The Tribal Curse
by Taurus Pixie
Summary: Sequel to 'The Future Disaster'. Beware of the Zanybe. Sonic was doing everything he could to heed this warning. He never really believed in destiny and magic, but as he attempts to change his future and save Amy, his actions will have a devastating affect on those closest to him. Sonic soon realises that fate will always catch up despite him being the fastest creature alive.
1. Darkened Hearts

**Welcome back! This is the sequel to my previous story 'The Future Disaster'. It's highly recommended that you read that story first as you may not understand some of the things that are going on. This story will answer most of the questions left unanswered from the previous story. **

**Rated T for language and violence. I own nothing. No copyright infringement is intended. This is just written for fun.**

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**~ The Tribal Curse ~**

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**I: Darkened Hearts**

The small village outside the temple was quiet as the full moon rose high into the sky and stars twinkled in the clear night. The only sound that could be heard was the chirping of crickets. The tents in the village flapped gently in the summer night's breeze and the dark purple tent at the edge of the forest was the only remaining source of artificial light as it glowed ominously next to the dark forest.

Red and white shoes with golden buckles stepped out slowly, something uncommon for the creature they belonged to. The hedgehog's dark fur stood on end as his white glowing eyes locked on the tent with a light on. He could feel the intense hatred deep within his now shattered heart as he saw the shadows of three hedgehogs moving around inside and Sonic stepped closer to listen to their conversation.

"I can't find the body." Sonic heard the red hedgehog say as he paced the tent.

"It was moved?" The blue one asked.

The red hedgehog nodded. "Most likely. Probably by her _friends._" He spat the word out.

"If I were you then I'd burn all the evidence of her existence. That's what we're doing with our son. It will be like those traitors were never here." The female hedgehog growled out as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Serves them right for messing around with taboo magic. Now look where it has got them." The blue hedgehog agreed with his wife.

"I had such high hopes for my daughter and she's destroyed them. Oh what will the gods think of me? I am a sham." The red hedgehog spluttered out.

"You are not to blame." The female reassured. "She fooled us all and now she's paid the price with her life. Sonic probably took the body away. That blue _hero _is the reason this whole thing happened in the first place and he deserves to spend the remainder of his days cursed."

"The Oracle already cursed him." The red hedgehog explained.

"Good." The blue hedgehog spat as there was a sudden crash as he knocked some objects off a desk in anger.

Sonic had heard enough as he felt his body convulsing in anger. They had done this. They will pay. He laughed manically as he pulled the curtain back to reveal himself standing there in his dark form and the three hedgehogs in the tent gasped in fear.

"You have returned?" The blue hedgehog gasped out as he took a fearful step back.

Sonic did nothing but laugh as he blew the candle out and his victims screams echoed through the night.

.

Amy gasped as she woke up from her troubled sleep. She looked around at the familiar stone walls of the Scorpion Temple and realised she had fallen asleep on the stairs that lead to the sacred statue of the Scorpion. That sure was a strange dream, she thought to herself as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

She kept having dreams of this strange hedgehog and that one was the most disturbing of all. He was different in this dream; darker and out of control. In the others he was happy and carefree. Maybe she'd have to visit her library and look it up. These reoccurring dreams had to mean something.

Amy got up and went about her usual routine of wondering the corridors of the Scorpion Temple before finally settling on the top of the stone building that stuck out from underground. She had a clear view of the surrounding jungle and she breathed in the humid air only to stop when she saw a red echidna and a fox with two tails running towards the temple.

Intruders? She'll soon see about that.

Amy leaped down to halt them in their path as they were about to enter the temple and they looked at her like they had just seen a ghost.

"A-Amy…" The fox gasped out.

"How do you know my name?" Amy demanded as she stood still in front of the entrance.

"You were dead!" The red echidna shrieked as he took a cautious step away from her.

"Huh?" Amy said in confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about, but how the hell do you know me?"

"Amy it's us: Tails and Knuckles. Your friends." Tails explained desperately. "Thank goodness you're ok. I don't understand though. You died six weeks ago and we brought your body here to rest. How did you come back to life?"

"I don't ever recall dying." Amy chuckled. "I woke up here."

"Just another day then?" Knuckles muttered sarcastically as his eyes raked Amy up and down in a disbelieving way.

"Knuckles this is great news." Tails said excitedly, turning to face him. "Maybe, Sonic could snap out of it now."

This made Amy's ears prick up. That guy from her dreams?

"Sonic…" She said the name for the first time out loud. It sounded so familiar.

Tails' head whipped around to look at her. "Yes Amy, Sonic. Our friend? He thinks you're dead, everyone thinks you're dead. We need your help Amy, Sonic's gone crazy and we can't figure out why. We came here to use your looking water."

"Will it help tell me who this Sonic person is?" Amy asked and Tails nodded enthusiastically. "Come in then."

Tails and Knuckles followed Amy inside and down into the Scorpion Temple. Tails and Knuckles looked around wonder at the many detailed carvings on the wall that told many different stories. They had previously been here twice, but had never been this far down before.

They arrived in a large room with crystals poking out the walls. There was another statue of a scorpion in the middle with glowing water surrounding it.

"This will allow us to look at the events six weeks ago and help us figure out what exactly happened to cause all this mess." Tails said as he bent down to gaze into the water.

"Ouch!" Knuckles yelped as Amy plucked some of his fur out followed by Tails and then did it to herself.

"What was that for?" He demanded.

"You want this to work don't you?" Amy said raising an eyebrow at him. "It will need pieces of our DNA to look through our memories and experiences to help show the events in great detail."

Tails and Knuckles watched as she dropped the fur into the water and it sizzled on impact. Bubbles began foaming near where they were standing and they all stood and watched in fascination before crouching down to get a better look at the images that were beginning to appear in the water.

"Oh looking water, seer of the past." Amy chanted. "Show us our lives six weeks ago up until now."

The water sizzled again before a large image began to appear and began playing like a movie. Tails and Knuckles instantly recognised it as their previous adventure before this whole nightmare began and Amy was starting to get a headache with all the memories that were flowing back to her.

"So what do you mean he's gone crazy?" Amy asked as she watched the determined looking blue hedgehog battling some robots.

"You'll see for yourself soon enough." Tails answered in an uneasy voice and they all gazed deeper into the water and watched as the events that started all this played out.

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	2. The Beginning

**Thanks for the reviews and I own nothing!**

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**II: The Beginning**

_Six weeks ago…_

"Just give it up Egghead!" Sonic yelled as he spin dashed through another robot, causing it to collapse and blow up. "How many more destroyed robots is it going to take?"

"I won't give up until I've conquered the world!" Eggman bellowed before laughing evilly in his new giant robot he was sat in. The robot shot lasers out of its cannons at Sonic, which he easily avoided.

"You can't catch the fastest thing alive!" Sonic laughed.

Eggman glared at him before shooting another laser at him, once again missing the blue hedgehog.

"Great shooting eagle eyes." Amy muttered sarcastically as she turned the page over in the book she was reading as she sat there comfortably in the glass prison Eggman had placed her in.

"You're not supposed to be relaxing in there!" Eggman yelled at her and Amy ignored him as she continued reading. She was so used to being captured by now and used as bait that it just didn't bother her anymore. Sonic always saved her so it wasn't as if she had anything to worry about.

"You know Amy," Sonic grunted as he held back the robots hand that tried to make a grab for him, "You could break out of there."

Amy giggled. "Yeah, but it's much more romantic when you rescue me."

Sonic rolled his eyes before spin dashing up the robot's arm and straight through the centre. The robot began exploding on itself and Eggman was sent hurtling into the sky.

"Curse you Sonic!" Eggman yelled, his voice getting quieter the further away he got before he disappeared completely.

Sonic smirked and brushed the dirt off his body and Amy smashed the glass with her hammer before walking off.

"Don't I even get a thank you?" Sonic called after her and Amy stopped and turned around to face him.

"I still haven't quite forgiven you for missing our date again last night." She huffed in annoyance and Sonic groaned.

"You can't still be mad about that can you?"

Amy glared at him and summoned her hammer again.

Sonic yelped and took a step away from her.

"Ok, maybe you can." He murmured. "I said I was sorry…look I'll make it up to you ok. Meet me at Emerald Hill at six tonight."

Amy looked at him suspiciously. "Promise you'll show up."

"Cross my heart." Sonic said doing the motion over his body and smiling at her. She smiled back before waving and walking off back towards her house.

Sonic sighed as he watched her leave before running off back to Tails' house. He could do with relaxing after that battle and mentally prepare himself for his date tonight. He didn't have anything that special planned; just hang out in the fields and talk. It was Amy's favourite place.

"Hey Sonic." Tails greeted him as Sonic jumped onto the roof of his house to settle down and enjoy the afternoon sun.

Sonic smiled and nodded at him before gazing up at the clouds. It had been five months since Tails' birthday and Sonic had been whisked away to the future. He actually found that he missed Sky. It was weird to think that he might never see her again after all that. He knew he could make her existence possible, but he really didn't feel like he was getting anywhere with Amy. Where were all the butterflies and fireworks in his stomach that people usually talked about when they were in love? Sonic so far felt nothing.

Although, that may be because the only date he actually made it to was the roller blading date she'd originally asked him on. Even though it was fun and it was good to hang out with Amy somewhere where the world wasn't ending or she hadn't been captured by Eggman. He did see a whole new side to her. He learned that she liked ice-cream, she liked cooking and gardening and loads of other girly stuff and that's when he stopped paying attention. She seemed to know loads about him though and it creeped him out.

Still, he felt nothing.

Sonic wondered what his future self was doing right now. Had he learned to control this curse he had even more? Sonic hummed to himself before pulling out the piece of paper he had been given with the warning on.

_Beware of the Zanybe._

Sonic had so far yet to hear even the slightest mention of such people. All had been quiet. Where was this action he was warned about? People said it went downhill after Tails' party. Not that he wished bad things on his friends, but everything was just so quiet. Apart from Eggman being up to his usual schemes, there was nothing remotely out of the ordinary.

Sonic stood up as he decided the best place to start looking for answers on this mysterious tribe was in Tails' vast library. It was mainly tech books he had, but there were also other things and Sonic thought it was as good a place to start than any.

In a blue blur, he arrived in the library and began looking in the many different sections. He couldn't find anything. It was as if they didn't exist. He huffed in frustration as he threw another book on the floor and collapsed into the chair and let his head flop against the desk. Why couldn't his future self be of any more help?

He let his eyes drift closed as he thought about who they could possibly be. He wasn't paying attention to where he was travelling to when they stopped the King of the Underworld from attacking them and now he wished he had. On that frustrating thought, he felt himself drifting to sleep.

His dream was strange. He found himself standing alone in the middle of a forest. He tried to run to find out what was going on, but it felt as if his feet were locked to the ground. He could hear the wind howling in the background and Sonic felt himself beginning to panic. What was going on?

He tried lifting his feet up again, but to no effect and he looked around desperately and shuddered in fright as millions of scorpions began to crawl out of the ground and climb up his body, stinging every inch of his body.

He cried out in pain. "Help! Anybody?" He called out the scorpions continued to climb and sting.

He tried to shake them off, but they clung to his blue fur and he looked around again for any sign of help.

"Amy!" He yelled in relief when he saw her leaning against a tree trunk, watching him with an expressionless face.

She said nothing as she continued to stare at him before she smiled sweetly at him.

"Yes, Sonic?" She asked innocently.

"Help." He begged weakly as the venom made his vision twist and turn fuzzy as the world spun around him.

She stalked towards him slowly as the sweet smile remained on her face.

"Why would I help you after everything you've done?" She spat at him and Sonic gasped. "You're so pathetic Sonic the Hedgehog. It's not nice being stung back is it?"

Sonic let out another cry as the world around him turned black and his body and heart burned with pain.

Sonic gasped as he awoke with a start to see Tails walking into the room and switching the light on as the sun began to set. Sonic looked around the room and instinctively brushed at his body to flick off any scorpions. There weren't any and he sighed with relief. The dream had felt so real and it creeped him out. He couldn't recall ever having a dream that vivid.

"Are you ok Sonic?" Tails asked concerned as Sonic stared at the floor, still panting from the nightmare.

He looked up and smiled at his friend reassuringly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Bad dream I guess."

Tails nodded and then looked at the books that were piled around the blue hedgehog in confusion.

"Have you been researching something?" He asked as he picked up one of the books Sonic had left open on the desk in front of him.

"Umm yeah." He replied. "Hey Tails, what do you know of the Zanybe tribe?"

Tails thought for a moment. "Not much, just from legends."

"So they don't exist?" Sonic asked hopefully.

"Some people believe that they still do." Tails answered. "From what I remember reading, they were a tribe as ancient as the echidnas that guarded the master emerald, apparently they were very secretive and those who journey to seek them out never come back."

"Hmmm." Sonic mumbled as he thought about what Tails told him. If they were so secretive and wanted to stay out of people's way, then why were they such a threat?

"Is there a reason you wanted to know?" Tails asked as he watched Sonic process what he just told him.

This snapped Sonic out of his thoughts. "It's just, someone warned me about them."

Tails chuckled. "Well there's no proof that they exist so I wouldn't worry."

Sonic nodded before smiling. "Yeah you're right." He said before turning to look out the window and gaze at the sunset; the pink colours reminded him of Amy. Amy. Ah Jeeze, the date! He'd almost forgot!

"Sorry Tails, I gotta dash." Sonic gasped out as he disappeared from Tails' library in a blue blur while mentally preparing himself for Amy bringing out her hammer and smashing his head in.

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	3. Sudden News

**Thanks for the reviews and I own nothing!**

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**III: Sudden News**

"Amy I'm so sorry I'm late!" Sonic gasped out as he skidded to a halt next to her as she sat over-looking the cliff and the sunset.

She looked up at him in surprise. "You're only five minutes late and in your case that might as well mean you're on time." She laughed, impressed that he'd actually shown up.

Sonic gave her an awkward smile before sitting down next to her and admiring all the colours that dusk brought. They sat there in comfortable silence for a while which gave Sonic a chance to think about his nightmare and this tribe that would apparently be out to get him. He looked over at Amy who was watching the sky in awe and it made him realise that Amy knew lots of tribes and magic and all things spiritual. Maybe she could provide some more answers.

"Hey Amy?" Sonic asked and she turned to look at him. "You're good at solving the meanings behind dreams."

"I guess…" Amy replied.

Sonic cleared his throat. "Well, before I arrived I had this really weird dream where I was in the middle of a forest and scorpions started attacking me. Then you were there and you wouldn't help me and then I passed out and that's when I woke up."

Amy gave him a weird look. "Did you eat loads of chocolate before falling asleep?" She joked.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "This is serious Amy, it was a really vivid dream and it creeped me out."

Amy thought for a moment. "Well scorpions are powerful symbols and often represent death, re-birth and passion. But if you dream of them I think it usually means you are on a self-destructive path in life and if they stung you it may mean you're going to say something hurtful."

"Yikes, I don't want to do that." Sonic gulped feeling uneasy.

"It was just a dream Sonic." Amy reassured. "I don't know why I wouldn't help you though." She laughed and Sonic smiled.

"Yeah, you normally would hammer them away." He chuckled.

Amy laughed harder and Sonic found himself liking the sound. It made him feel instantly better and he decided to banish all thoughts of that dream. After all it was just that: a dream.

"There's also something else I need to ask you." Sonic said once they'd stopped laughing.

"Shoot."

Sonic took a deep breath before asking this one. "What do you know about the Zanybe tribe?"

Amy's reaction was something he didn't expect.

"What?" She demanded with an accusing look on her face.

"The Zanybe tribe." He repeated and Sonic tried to read her facial expression, but she had placed on a carefully guarded mask.

"Where did you hear about them?" She asked carefully.

"I just heard the name and someone told me to watch out for them." He explained. Sonic instantly knew that she knew exactly what he was talking about.

Amy continued to stare at him before finally replying. "I just know that they were an ancient tribe."

"That's all you know?" Sonic asked suspiciously.

Amy smiled and nodded her head, but the smile seemed fake.

Sonic narrowed his eyes at her.

"I know you know more than that." He stated. "I can tell. You always were a bad liar."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Honestly Sonic, that's pretty much all I know and trust me on that one."

Sonic sighed and decided to let the subject drop. He could visit the library in Station Square later and get some better ideas.

He then noticed that Amy looked a little uneasy and decided to ask her about it.

"Something bothering you?" He asked concerned and Amy sighed.

"I got a letter off my father last night." She explained. "He wants me to come home for a bit for a visit, but he lives really far away and I feel bad ditching you guys."

Sonic snorted. "It's hardly ditching, you're just going to see your father for a while."

"Yeah, but…" Amy sighed. "I'll miss you."

Sonic looked at her sympathetically. He couldn't shake the stabbing feeling in his chest at the thought of her leaving him. "I'll miss you too, but we'll see each other again right?"

Amy smiled up at him. "Count on it."

They both smirked at each other before turning around in time to see the sun disappear behind the hills.

.

"I still can't quite fathom why you're so obsessed with them all of a sudden." Tails commented as he watched Sonic zoom across the bookshelf on a ladder as his green eyes furiously scanned the book titles.

"If someone has warned me about them, then I'm not taking any chances." Sonic explained as he let out a cry of frustration at the little to no information on them which earned him a shush from the librarian.

He stuck his tongue out at her while she wasn't looking and went back to searching for information. He thought libraries were supposed to have information on everything? If the Zanybe were supposed to be this great mystical tribe of Mobius, then surely there should be lots of information on them. Then again, Tails had said they were an incredibly secretive bunch.

He shoved another book back on the shelf in frustration and now he really wished he'd tried to get more information out of Amy.

"Is there anything I can help you with sir?" A female voice asked from the bottom of Sonic's ladder and he looked down to see a familiar looking fox staring up at him in concern.

"Kiko?" He blurted out without thinking and she looked at him in shock.

"You know me?" She asked looking a little creeped out.

"Name tag." Sonic lied, grateful that she was wearing one. That was a close call.

"Oh right." She sighed with relief. "Well spotted, anyway is there anything you need help with?"

"Oh yes please." Sonic said as he slid down the ladder, landing next to her and Tails ran up to them.

"Find anything?" Tails asked and Sonic shook his head.

"I was just going to ask Kiko." Sonic explained and Tails looked over at her. Sonic expected to see explosions of love on their faces when their eyes met, but nothing happened. Ok…aren't they supposed to be soul mates or something? Where were the gooey love struck eyes? The instant connection?

"Ask away then." Kiko smiled politely.

"Do you know anything about the Zanybe tribe, or any books on them?" Sonic asked.

Kiko looked at them in fascination. "Follow me." She said excitedly and Sonic and Tails exchanged a look before following her into what Sonic guessed was her office.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who's curious about them." She whispered as she shut the door behind them and began rummaging through her desk and pulled out a very old looking book. She brushed some of the dust off and began flicking through the pages.

"What do you mean?" Tails asked.

Kiko smiled. "My whole life I have dedicated to researching them. I just find them so fascinating. Creepy and evil, but fascinating."

"Evil?" Sonic gulped as he watched Kiko finally settle on a page and began reading what looked like ancient writing that Sonic couldn't understand.

"The Zanybe are an incredibly old tribe that some say came to be when the planet was still young. It is thought that the tribe mainly consisted of hedgehogs and they built many mystical temples all around the planet to honour the gods and the other creatures that inhabited the planet. They were quite advanced and some of their temples were very well designed. Scientists were left speechless when an abandoned temple of theirs was discovered over fifty years ago and they couldn't figure out how they'd built such a thing."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Tails commented.

Kiko sighed. "That part isn't. As advanced and clever and wise as they were, they were also known to be very barbaric. They were pretty brutal people and worshipped the strangest of creatures, mainly bugs. They were a very superstitious bunch considering how advanced they were."

Tails chuckled. "They sound pretty stupid."

"Don't be fooled." Kiko explained. "They didn't take too kindly to outsiders and they were known for sacrificing people, allegedly cursing people and sometimes just killing people for the fun of it."

"Curses?" Sonic squeaked. Why did all this sound scarily familiar?

"You speak as if they're real." Tails snorted.

"Oh they're real alright." Kiko said glaring at Tails. "And I also believe that they're still out there. How else would you explain all the explorers who go searching for them and never return?"

Tails shrugged. "Lots of explorers go missing. It's not unheard of. Besides if they wonder off into uncharted land like that then accidents are bound to happen. Besides, Sonic has done over ten laps around the planet and I'm sure that if they're real, he would've come across them by now."

Sonic just hoped that Tails was right.

"These are magical people we're dealing with. You can't stumble across them by accident. You have to know where to look." Kiko said as she turned the page in the book.

Tails laughed and turned back to Sonic.

"Can we please leave now?" He asked. "This is just a load of myths and superstitions. It's all nonsense."

"Nonsense?" Kiko snapped. "How dare you! This is my life's work and I hope to one day find this tribe and prove their existence."

"Well then let us know how that turns out." Tails chuckled and then looked at Sonic in shock as he leaned over the book to get a closer look. "You can't really be buying into this Sonic?"

"Curses huh?" He asked timidly as he squinted at the ancient text.

Kiko smiled and nodded. "If you believe in magic. I hypothesise that the Zanybe have learnt how to use magic and maybe that's why they're so secretive. They don't want anyone else getting hold of it."

"Well that's good news for me because I've been advised to stay away from them." Sonic sighed in relief.

"What? By who?" Kiko gasped out looking at Sonic with fascination. Tails groaned in the background, but they ignored him.

"Oh just someone who claims they were cursed by that tribe." Sonic said trying not to reveal too much.

Kiko's eyes widened.

"They met the tribe? Who are they? Could I speak with them?" She demanded.

Sonic smiled awkwardly. "Well the thing is, I don't know who they were or where they lived." He lied.

Kiko's ears drooped sadly.

"My frie – girlfriend…also seems to know some stuff about them, but refuses to tell me." Sonic added.

Kiko's ears pricked up again.

"Could I speak with her?" She asked.

"Err…sure." Sonic agreed.

He just hoped Amy wouldn't kill him for doing this.

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	4. Interrogation

**Thanks for the reviews and I own nothing.**

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**IV: Interrogation**

Sonic and Kiko slowly approached Amy's house and as soon as Sonic opened the garden gate, he could hear Amy humming away in the kitchen. Tails had headed home saying that this whole thing was silly. Be that as it may, Sonic wanted to learn everything he could so he could know who he might end up possibly dealing with.

"I should probably do the talking. She seemed pretty cagey when I brought it up last night." Sonic explained and Kiko smiled and nodded.

Sonic took a deep breath, breathing in the sweet scent of the flowers in the garden before knocking on the door.

Amy answered almost instantly and her eyes brightened once she caught sight of him.

"Sonic!" She squealed and jumped into his arms.

"Umf, hey Amy." He grunted as Amy squeezed the life out of him.

She let go of him and then caught sight of Kiko.

"Who's this?" She asked as she straightened her red dress out.

"This is Kiko, she works in the library and she wanted to ask you some questions." Sonic explained.

Amy looked confused, but didn't seem to suspect anything much to Sonic's relief.

"Umm…ok, come on in." Amy invited gesturing for them to come inside.

"Thank you." Kiko said as she followed Sonic into her living room.

Amy looked at them both expectantly, waiting to see what this whole thing was about. Sonic twiddled his thumbs awkwardly waiting for the moment she would explode on him for getting Kiko involved in what Amy was clearly keeping a secret.

"Wow you have so many interesting charms and books." Kiko complimented as she looked around the room in fascination.

Amy beamed at her. "Thank you. It's nice to finally meet someone who understands this kind of thing unlike some non-believers." She said glaring at Sonic who just smirked back. Magic and charms just seemed like a load of nonsense to Sonic and he could never understand why Amy was so fascinated with them. Although the fact that her tarot cards had accurately predicted where they would meet creeped him out, he just brushed it off as a coincidence.

"Absolutely!" Kiko gasped. "Some people don't appreciate how incredible and symbolic some of these objects are."

Amy's smile widened and Sonic looked at Kiko in shock. He guessed she didn't need him to sweet talk Amy into giving out information.

"I'll have to store them away soon. I have to go back home and visit my father." Amy explained sadly as she twirled a dream catcher around in her hand.

"When do you leave?" Kiko asked.

Amy sighed. "Two days."

"Two days!" Sonic gasped out.

"I'm sorry Sonic, I was going to tell you soon." Amy said looking guilty.

Sonic shook his head. "No, it's fine. I just didn't expect it to be so soon."

He stood there in confusion as he got this weird twisting sensation in his chest and his stomach dropped and felt heavy like that time he ate ten chilli dogs in a row. What was this feeling? He couldn't recall over eating today so why was his body reacting like this?

"What books are these?" Kiko asked as she traced her fingers carefully along the ancient binding.

"Those were passed down to me through my family." Amy said and Sonic recognised the same ancient writing as what was in the book Kiko had brought out earlier.

"Spell books?" Kiko asked in shock.

Amy bit her lip. "Umm, yeah."

"Like the kind the Zanybe would use?" Kiko pressed and Amy slammed the book she was holding down in anger, making both Sonic and Kiko jump.

Amy turned around and glared at Sonic. "So this is why you brought her over? To interrogate me?"

"No!" Sonic defended. "Kiko is like an expert on them and she is really fascinated with the tribe and judging by last night, you seem to know a lot about them."

Amy huffed. "I already told you. I don't know anything, now drop the subject."

"Please," Kiko begged. "I'm an archaeologist who's desperate to prove that they are still out there somewhere, if you could give me some kind of clue."

Amy stared at Kiko in shock and then worry seemed to cloud her features. "Shouting about something like that could get you in deep trouble." Amy whispered and Kiko and Sonic looked at her in confusion.

"I need to get the cookies out." Amy mumbled as she left the room.

"Well that went well." Sonic sighed as he collapsed on Amy's couch.

"She definitely knows something." Kiko noted as she looked through Amy's books.

Sonic hummed in agreement. What was Amy hiding? How could he protect her from this tribe if she refused to tell him anything?

"Oh my goodness!" Kiko suddenly hissed and Sonic looked up to see her picking up Amy's tarot cards.

"Those silly things?" Sonic said trying to supress a chuckle at Kiko melodramatic reaction to Amy's little toys.

"Silly things?" Kiko gasped out. "These are ancient! Where the hell did she get these?"

Sonic shrugged. "She's had them since we were kids."

Kiko let out another gasp as she turned them over to look at the back of them. "This symbol, I've seen it somewhere before."

Sonic looked over her shoulder at them. The backs of them were a dark grey and in the middle was a pyramid inside what looked like a crystal ball and what looked like an eyeball that had cracked open. Sonic didn't see it as anything special, but to Kiko it clearly meant something.

"I'll look it up tonight." Kiko said as she carefully placed the cards back down just before Amy walked into the room.

"Are you two done meddling now or do you want to leave?" Amy asked tapping her foot impatiently. "I have a lot of packing to do."

"Yes of course." Kiko said bowing her head. "Sorry for intruding Amy." She added before she started to leave, stealing another quick glance at the cards.

"I'll see you before you leave right?" Sonic asked hopefully and Amy sighed.

"If you don't bring anymore nosey people that ask questions I don't know the answers to." She muttered sarcastically.

Sonic winked at her before he followed Kiko out the door which Amy locked behind them.

"Sorry that wasn't much help." Sonic apologised sadly and Kiko just smiled at him.

"Don't worry about it." She reassured him. "It was actually very interesting. She definitely knows something and I'll have hours of fun tonight researching that symbol."

"I guess." Sonic said. "Let me know when you find out."

"It would be a pleasure. It's nice to finally meet someone who's as interested in the Zanybe as I am."

Sonic chuckled. "So you're a huge fan of them then?"

Kiko looked around sheepishly. "I wouldn't say fan because I don't actually like them, I just find them fascinating and I know they're still out there somewhere."

"Well good luck." Sonic said as they went their separate ways.

Their conversation with Amy was definitely interesting to say the least. He was so desperate to protect everyone he knew, especially Amy from this tribe. From what he had seen in the future, everyone seemed to be haunted by what they had done and it had seemed to affect Sonic and Amy the most.

At least Amy would be safe with her family for a while whilst he figured this thing out. He didn't think any evil tribe could get to her while he wasn't around because from what he had already figured out, it was apparently his fault that Amy became such a mess in the future.

He was determined not to let that happen.

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	5. Goodbyes

**Thanks for the reviews and I own nothing.**

* * *

**V: Goodbyes**

"I'll miss you Amy!" Cream sobbed onto Amy's shoulder as the young rabbit clung to the pink hedgehog for dear life. Amy tried fighting back her own tears as she hugged Cream back tightly.

"Please, don't cry Cream. It's not forever. Just a few months at the most." Amy tried to reassure her.

Cream sniffed. "I know but…who else will have tea parties with me, garden with me and go on walks with me?"

Her little chao friend Cheese also began sobbing as he latched onto Amy's arm and small little tears escaped his eyes.

"When do you leave?" Cream asked as her sobbing began to fade.

Amy tried to fight back more tears that were threatening to fall. If she was being honest with herself, she didn't want to go home. After her mother died there was nothing left there for her and she never really liked her father. He was controlling, manipulative and always wanted to push her into things she didn't want to do. She wanted to make him proud and get him off her back and maybe hopefully accept her. If she was being honest with herself, she couldn't see that happening anytime soon. That was one of the reasons she ran away from home. She hated her life there and when she saw Sonic's face in her future and the promise of a better life that came with him, Amy quickly made her excuses and left. She just hoped that her father never found out the real reason she left otherwise she would be in serious trouble. Amy cringed as she thought that might be the biggest understatement she had ever heard.

"I leave tonight." Amy answered.

"Why so late?" Cream asked. "Why not tomorrow morning?"

"Traffic will be lighter at night." Amy lied. The real reason was that it would be too dark for anyone to follow her without getting lost.

"You still have time to see my flowers right? They're roses; you're favourite." Cream said as she grabbed hold of Amy's hand and pulled her towards her front door.

"Sure Cream." Amy replied and Cream opened the door.

Amy jumped back in shock to see all her closest friends stood there. They all stood there with sad smiles on their faces as they looked up at her on the porch.

"Seriously, you guys are acting like I'm leaving forever." She chuckled as Cream pulled her into another hug.

"It will feel like forever." Cream cried. "You've never left us before."

Amy rolled her eyes but soon found herself scanning the crowd to try and meet the green eyes of her favourite blue hedgehog, but she couldn't see him anywhere. Was he even going to come and say goodbye? Amy knew he wasn't one for emotional farewells, but Amy at least wanted one glance of him before she left to go back to that hellhole she lived in with her father.

As she was passed around all her friends as they said their goodbyes to her, she kept looking out for him. Her heart clenched painfully every time she caught no sight of him. She was just pulling out of a hug with Tails when at last, she spotted him leaning against the fence of Cream's garden.

Tails rolled his eyes. "Go on." He urged as he pushed her out of his embrace and towards the blue hero.

"Hey." Amy said awkwardly as she stood in front of him, unsure of what to do.

"Hey." Sonic repeated just as awkwardly as he stared at his shoes.

Amy huffed in annoyance before closing the distance between them and pulling him into a tight hug. She expected Sonic to push her away like normal, but instead he wrapped his arms around her and embraced her back.

"You'll look after yourself, right?" Sonic breathed into her pink quills and Amy smirked.

"You know me, I always do." She laughed, breathing in his familiar natural scent.

Sonic pulled back and shot her a worried look. "That's what concerns me."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Give me a little credit." She scoffed. "If I can handle robots and giant monsters, I can handle my family."

Actually she would take the robots over her father any day, but she wasn't going to tell Sonic that.

"You don't want to go do you?" Sonic demanded seeing right through her.

"How did you…?" Amy gasped out. "It's just that my father isn't exactly the nicest person in the world."

"Would he hurt you?" Sonic asked a bit more aggressively as he wanted to scream at the thought of anyone harming her.

Amy shook her head. At least she hoped not. She hadn't seen him in years and she had no idea what his reaction would be to seeing her again…or forbid the idea that he found out why she ran away and what she had been doing.

"He's just a bit of a snob." Amy replied truthfully.

"Ah." Sonic said before chuckling. "Is he as crazy as you?"

"Hey!" Amy snapped, playfully punching him on the arm.

"I'll miss you." Sonic said in a serious tone that Amy had never heard before. He looked so sad to see her leave and it broke her heart.

"I'll miss you too." She said.

Amy froze as her mind failed to register completely what happened next. She gasped as Sonic leaned down and gave her a soft peck on the cheek before leaping over the fence and running off into the woods without looking back.

Amy had to remind herself how to breathe as she gently placed her hand over the small warm spot on her cheek where Sonic's lips had been a few moments ago and she stared at the place Sonic had disappeared with wide eyes.

She could hear a few chuckles from her friends behind her, but she didn't care.

"Should someone go over there and snap her out of it?" Knuckles joked to Tails and they both sniggered.

"Just let her have her little moment." Tails chuckled as he watched the pink hedgehog standing completely still, hand over her cheek, eyes wide and blushing furiously.

.

The sun was just beginning to set when Amy arrived at the edge of the forest, just outside the home her father and herself used to share together. It had been so many years, but as Amy arrived back, it was if she never left.

All the tents looked the same, as did the huge stone temple with its moss coated bricks. Amy sighed and breathed in the familiar smell of fabrics, camp fire smoke and damp earth. She could hear the sound of children laughing and she hesitantly took the last few steps towards the purple tent she knew her father was waiting for her in.

She could hear him talking to someone inside before hearing his familiar booming laugh. She bit her lip before timidly pushing back the curtain.

The inside looked exactly the same as she'd left it. The tapestries still hung on the walls, the wooden chairs were in the same place as were all their charms, potions and other magical equipment.

"Amy!" She heard her father call out happily and before she knew it, the large red hedgehog was in front of her and pulling her into a tight embrace that she did not return.

"My darling daughter." He gasped out before pulling back and roughly grabbing her shoulders and looking her up and down. "Let me look at you! My how you've grown into a beautiful young lady. Maybe a little on the skinny side, but we'll soon get some meat on those bones and tone that muscle."

Amy rolled her eyes and sighed with relief when her father finally released her.

"Isn't she a beauty your holiness?" Her father asked the other tall hedgehog in the room.

The white wrinkled hedgehog looked Amy up and down and she shifted uncomfortably under his intense gaze.

"Indeed she is. She truly lives up to her name of Rose." The Oracle nodded before pulling on his cloak. "I bid you farewell Ezra of the Beetle."

The Oracle disappeared and Amy was left alone with her father. She looked around awkwardly before meeting his brown eyes. He smiled at her and pulled her to one of the wooden chairs next to small table and he began pouring some herbal tea.

"It's amazing to see how much you've changed over the years." He commented. "You look so much like your mother."

Amy gave him a small smile. She couldn't remember her mother that much; all she did remember was that her mother really cared about her and she belonged to the temple of the butterfly. She had died unexpectedly when Amy was only two. She just wondered into the woods to pick some flowers before she ran out screaming with her whole body on fire. By the time the flames had been put out, it was too late.

"Tell me how the temple of the sun has been, have they made you into a proper warrior lady as promised?" Ezra asked as he pushed the tea cup towards her.

Amy nodded not knowing what else to say. The temple of the sun was her excuse to get away from home. Of course, she hadn't really gone there. Instead she started pursuing Sonic and helped save the world on a regular basis.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called you back here eh?" Ezra said as he sipped his tea.

"Yes father." Amy answered and began nervously playing with her fingers.

"I'm surprised you haven't noticed, but you will be coming of age soon." Ezra explained. "Your temple will be chosen and the Oracle and I have high hopes for you."

"You do?" Amy spluttered.

"Yes indeed." Her father chuckles. "Your spirit has shown great promise and we reckon you will indeed be powerful."

Amy's eyes widened. She didn't want a job with too much responsibility because she might never be able to see her friends again. She didn't want that. Amy wanted to make her father proud, but was also caught between the need to see her friends…to see Sonic. If her father ever found out about him then all hell would break loose.

"How could I be powerful?" Amy sighed. "All I have is my hammer and tarot cards and they're nothing special."

Ezra laughed. "Well daughter, the Oracle has been hearing whispering amongst the Gods and it seems as though one of them has their eye on you. When your initiation begins, I will be the proudest father there."

Amy rolled her eyes.

"My daughter, Amy Rose, a powerful keeper of one of the Gods' sources of power, a temple, a warrior. Ever since you were born I knew you were something great."

Amy repressed groan at how emotional her father was getting over this.

Ezra nodded as he smiled into his cup of tea. "Yes, my daughter will be the greatest warrior the Zanybe tribe has ever seen."

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	6. Secrets and Lies

**Thanks for the reviews! I own nothing.**

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**VI: Secrets and Lies**

Sonic gasped as he jolted awake after having the same nightmare from the other day. He could still feel the stinging sensations from the scorpions on his skin and he immediately began brushing at his fur to try and remove the feeling.

He looked up at the clear morning sky and sighed as the pink colours of the sunrise once again reminded him of Amy. It made him wonder what she was doing right now. At least she was hopefully safe and far away from that mysterious tribe. Now he could focus on doing research with Kiko and finding this tribe before they found him. He was starting to believe that they were real and that they were in fact a serious threat. He couldn't see his future self pulling a practical joke this serious.

His ears pricked up when he heard Tails' front door open and he looked down from his little perch on the roof.

"Good morning Sonic." Tails said as he walked down the path towards his garage. "I bet you slept well after yesterday." He added with a wink.

Sonic rolled his eyes laid back down again. He knew he was never going to hear the end of that kiss now. He didn't even know why he did it…he just felt like he needed to. No doubt it would've been a good leaving present for Amy. His heart ached at the thought of not being able to see her for a few months and Sonic rubbed his fingers across his chest to try and slow his erratic heartbeat down. He didn't know what had gotten into him lately.

He stood up as he wondered if the library would be open yet and thought about checking on Kiko, but that idea went away as soon as he saw the vixen walking down the road towards the house.

Sonic jumped down off the roof and waited to meet her.

"Hey Sonic!" She greeted happily as she approached and Sonic smiled.

Tails peeked his head from around the garage door and frowned as soon as he saw Kiko.

"What are you doing here?" He tried to ask politely as he could as he walked over.

"Sonic and I are helping each other with the Zanybe project." Kiko answered as Sonic took a few of the books off her and scanned the titles.

"Still hung up on this tribe thing are you?" Tails grumbled. "Face it guys, they don't exist."

Kiko gasped before glaring at him. "They do too!"

Tails shuck his head. "I think we would've discovered them by now if they did exist."

"But they're magical. How can you find such advance people that don't want to be found?" Kiko retaliated and Tails sighed dramatically.

"Ok guys chill out." Sonic interrupted. "Tails, I just want to find out everything I can."

Tails huffed. "Honestly Sonic, why are you so afraid of them?"

"I am not afraid!" Sonic shrieked.

"Then why are you acting so funny?"

Sonic tried to think of the best way to answer that question without sounding crazy. Tails rolled his eyes at Sonic's silence before heading back towards the garage.

"They're not real." He mumbled before heading back inside.

"He's a hard one to convince." Kiko noted as she stared at the garage with a smirk on her face.

"Yeah well, Tails likes to have a lot of evidence before he believes something." Sonic said. "He is a scientist and inventor."

Kiko laughed. "I always preferred history and philosophy."

"And I prefer running." Sonic chuckled as they made their way inside and into Tails' library.

"Nice place." Kiko complimented as Sonic opened all the windows to let fresh air in before sitting down opposite Kiko next to the desk.

"Found anything out so far?" He asked.

Kiko sighed. "Nothing new or interesting. That symbol on Amy's cards still bugs me though. I know I've seen it somewhere."

"I'm sure the memory will come back to you." Sonic comforted as he began reading one of the books written by a historian many years ago who also wanted to prove the existence of the tribe.

"The man who wrote that book went missing after it was published." Kiko explained and Sonic looked at her in shock.

"Was he ever found?"

Kiko shook her head. "Everyone who published these books on the tribe went missing under mysterious circumstances. One minute they'd be there and then they'd just vanish into thin air."

"Do you think it's safe to be carrying these books around then?" Sonic asked, concerned.

Kiko smirked. "I'm not afraid."

"Me neither." Sonic laughed before getting back to reading.

He was just finding everything that Kiko had told him before and he was beginning to get frustrated again.

"But still…" Kiko said after a few minutes of silence. "Amy sure is a funny one."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "No need to tell me that."

Kiko giggled. "Some boyfriend you are."

"Yeah well, she's always been weird, since the day I met her. Apparently she predicted the exact day and location we would meet. She instantly knew everything about me, my name, favourite food and all that. I just put it down to her being an obsessed fan girl with nothing better to do, but when I asked, she said the cards had told her."

"Yeah, I thought they looked like ancient tarot cards." Kiko said.

"She's had those toys for years."

Kiko shook her head. "Those were no mere children's toys." She explained. "They looked to be over a thousand years old. It would've been better if I could've analysed them in great detail."

"What exactly are tarot cards anyway?" Sonic asked.

"In the art of divination they are used to predict mental and spiritual pathways, which I'm guessing is what Amy uses them for. The Zanybe were very fascinated in divination which is what makes me wonder if Amy has some sort of link to the tribe." Kiko explained.

"How could Amy link to the tribe?"

Kiko thought for a moment. "I have no idea, she's your friend so I would've thought you'd have an idea. Something tells me that the symbol I found on the cards holds the answer."

She began reading again and Sonic sighed wishing that he had tried harder to get information out of her.

Sonic and Kiko continued researching, completely unaware of the hooded figures stood outside the window who had listened to their every words. They all turned and nodded at each other before disappearing into the trees.

.

Amy hummed to herself as she rearranged the flowers on her mother's grave. She added a few roses and nodded once she had finished. She wished that she could know her mother and sat there wondering what she was like. Her father rarely talked about her and there were no pictures of her in the house.

"She'd appreciate the roses."

Amy jumped as she heard the sudden boom of her father's deep voice behind her.

"Oh, good morning father." Amy greeted and Ezra nodded at her and stood next to her, looking down on the grave.

They stood in silence for a few minutes as the breeze carried the scent of the roses across their faces.

"I've arranged for you to fight in the arena today." Ezra announced and Amy looked up at him in shock.

"You sighed me up without telling me?" She gasped out.

"Hold your tongue daughter." Ezra snapped before smiling happily at her again. "This is an excellent chance to prove yourself and show off the fighting skills you learnt while living in the temple of the sun. The Oracle will be coming to watch and he'll be keeping his eyes one you."

Amy cringed.

"Maybe the gods will also be watching." Ezra said excitedly. "Then one of them will have to choose you."

"That's great father." Amy replied unenthusiastically.

She was just glad that Sonic and Knuckles had taught her how to fight otherwise she would've been screwed. Although, she wasn't too sure about going up against another member of the tribe. She'd take on robots any day, but now she'd be going up against professional fighters that wouldn't go down with one simple malfunction. These guys would be tough and she gulped at the thought.

"So you're due to go into the arena at sunset and I'll be cheering you on." Ezra said and Amy tried to stop herself from shaking with fear.

"I better go and ummm…warm up then." Amy said awkwardly as she slowly backed away from her father and made her way towards their tent.

Ezra watched her leave before turning around to stare at the grave of his wife.

"She seems to be a bit of a softy just like you." Ezra said to the gravestone sadly. "Looks like I'll have to beat it out of her a little bit eh?"

He frowned before spitting on the grave and storming off to follow his daughter.

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	7. Being Watched

**Thanks for the reviews! I own nothing.**

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**VII: Being Watched**

Amy stood twiddling her fingers nervously and tried to control her breathing. She could hear the cheering of the crowds and the loud voice of the Oracle announcing the event and she knew her father would be stood next to him soaking up all the attention.

"Today we witness Amy Rose!" The Oracle announced and the crowd roared with cheers and applause.

Amy squinted against the sudden harsh light as the guards pulled the curtains back and she felt her feet automatically carry her forward and into the old stone arena. It looked like everyone in the tribe had turned up for this event and they were all cheering for her. It looked like her father had really hyped them all up.

"Fighting her will be Creon of the Spider!" The Oracle said gesturing towards the curtains on the opposite end of the arena where a very large and tough looking green hedgehog appeared, storming out into the open confidently and glared at Amy with a murderous look.

Amy found her eyes drifting towards all the blood stains on the walls and on the floor. She said a quiet prayer to the gods and tried to slow down her erratic heart. I'm dead, Amy thought to herself.

The tribal drums began to play and everyone stopped cheering to watch in enthralled silence as Creon smirked at her.

"I see you haven't been chosen by a god yet? This should be easy." Creon yelled at her and Amy tried to maintain her composure.

"At least I'll be full of surprises." She was surprised she had managed to say that without her voice shaking.

Creon raised his eyebrows at her before laughing and charging towards her. Amy anticipated his move and quickly moved out of the way before he could hit her.

Creon's spider bracelet glowed bright gold and he shot a sticky web out of the palm of his hand that wrapped itself around her.

Amy struggled and tripped over as Creon laughed at her.

"Pathetic." He chuckled and Amy growled as she tried to break free. Using all the strength in her arms as she managed to snap the web and Creon looked at her in shock.

Amy summoned her hammer and she heard everyone in the audience gasp. She didn't even pay attention as she charged towards Creon with her hammer held high in the air.

"Whoa!" Creon gasped as he jumped out of the way after registering the crazed look in the pink hedgehog's eyes.

Amy picked up her hammer again and attempted to hit him, but he once again moved out of the way just in time.

"Unlike you, I don't have to rely on divine intervention." Amy teased and Creon glared at her before crawling up the wall with movement similar to a spider's. Amy smashed her hammer against the stones, trying to create shockwaves that would knock him back to the ground.

Eventually she succeeded and Creon fell back to the ground and she heard a sickening crack as his arm broke. Creon yelped in pain before glaring up at her. He picked himself up and charged towards her as his bracelet began glowing again.

Amy jumped up into the air and span around with her hammer creating a small whirlwind that easily knocked Creon off his feet.

"Where did you get such a weapon?" Creon shrieked at her as he tried to shoot more webs at her that she managed to avoid.

Amy ignored him and gasped as one of the webs caught her leg and locked her onto the ground, preventing her from moving.

Creon saw his chance and came charging towards her, his bracelet glowing brightly. Amy gasped in fear before picking her hammer up and smashing it against the ground as hard as she could. The shockwave shook the whole arena and the stones beneath Amy's and Creon's feet began to crack. Creon stared at the ground in fear before the ancient stones gave way underneath them and they plummeted into one of the many hidden underground chambers under the tribe.

Everyone in the audience tried to lean over the wall to get a better look, but could see nothing but pitch blackness in the area that the two hedgehog's had fallen.

They gasped as they saw a pink hedgehog struggle to pull herself back up with dust and debris entangled in her fur. Amy coughed violently before pulling up the unconscious body of Creon and laid him down on the ground that hadn't been destroyed.

The crowd erupted into cheers and Ezra ran down and raised Amy's hand high in the air.

"Ouch, I'm still sore father." Amy rasped out as she tried to cough up more dust.

"Nonsense." Ezra replied as he waved at the crowd. "You are victorious and you should be showing off your strength."

Amy rolled her eyes before coughing again and the Oracle held up his hand and everyone suddenly went silent as eyes drifted to the old hedgehog.

"I sense a great power at work here." He said with his eyes closed and Ezra's eyes lit up.

"I knew it!" Ezra smiled. "There's someone big and powerful that's got their eyes on you Amy."

Amy's stomach sank as Ezra continued to force her to wave at the crowd.

Creon groaned as he came round and Amy looked around awkwardly as she saw Creon's parents storming towards him.

"You have failed us!" His father snapped.

"I'm sorry father!" Creon begged. "I didn't know she had a weapon!"

"You vowed that you would never lose a fight!" His father yelled and Creon shrank away from him in fear.

"Father please, I'm sorry!"

"Sorry isn't good enough!" Amy watched in horror as dark magic began seeping out of Creon's father. "As punishment for this broken promise to your parents, I hereby disown you as my son and curse you to lose every battle from now on!"

"NOOOOOO!" Creon screamed in agony as he tried to run from the dark magic, but it caught up to him quickly and his body absorbed it. He dropped to the ground and began twitching in pain and Amy wanted to run over there and help him.

However, she was stopped from doing so by her father's rough hand grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him.

"Don't worry about those weaklings, today we celebrate your first victory." Ezra said. "Now smile!" He ordered.

Amy did her best to force a smile on her face and it must have been convincing enough as Ezra nodded at her.

Lots of people from the tribe came to congratulate her and Amy did her best to keep on her best false smile, knowing that her father was watching her every move. As the sun began to set her father finally dragged her away from everyone and into the Oracle's temple.

"That was an amazing fight." Her father complimented.

"Thank you father." Amy answered flatly and she couldn't stop herself thinking about Creon and how him losing the fight had now cost him everything. She felt so guilty.

"We must now push your initiation forward as you are obviously very powerful." Ezra noted. "By the way, where did you get that hammer?"

"A random guy gave it to me." Amy explained.

"A random guy?" Ezra chuckled. "What happened?"

"I was just wondering through this market and this hooded man stopped me. He told me I was incredibly special and that he had a gift for me." Amy told him and Ezra looked deep in thought. "He gave me the hammer and said only I had the power to wield it, then he just disappeared and I never saw him again."

"Show me!" Ezra begged and Amy easily summoned her hammer and Ezra looked at it greedily.

"Give it to me!" He ordered holding his hands out.

Amy rolled her eyes. "If you're sure."

She handed it to him and Ezra immediately collapsed under the weight of it and it fell to the floor with a loud clanging noise. Ezra tried to pick it up but to no avail and Amy giggled at his attempts.

"For some reason, it only works for me." She said easily picking it up as if it was as light as a feather.

Ezra looked at her, impressed as Amy made it disappear.

"You know what this is my child?" He asked and Amy shook her head. "It's a gift from one of the gods."

Amy laughed. "I highly doubt that a god would come all the way here just to give a little girl a present."

"But you're not just any girl, Amy. That god obviously thought you were something special otherwise he would never have given you such a weapon." Ezra explained as his eyes sparkled.

"If you say so." Amy mumbled.

"I need to stay here and do some work on your initiation with the Oracle, you just go and do your own thing." Ezra said and Amy nodded, glad for the excuse to be away from him.

Ezra watched as his daughter left and sighed happily. He couldn't wait to be the envy of everyone in the tribe once Amy was selected by one of the powerful gods that quite clearly had their eyes on her.

"Great fight Ezra!" He heard his best friend say and Ezra turned around with a smirk on his face.

"Indeed, my daughter has grown up to be quite the warrior." He said proudly to the dark blue hedgehog who was walking towards him.

"Ah if only my son was still alive." The blue hedgehog said. "I'm sure I would've trained him to be a great warrior."

"Didn't you ever consider having more children Nero?" Ezra asked and Nero shook his head.

"What was the point when we ended up sacrificing the first one? Obviously the gods did not deem us fit to have children." Nero sighed.

Ezra nodded remember that day all too well as Nero and his wife abandoned their son in the middle of the forest.

"Your holiness of the beetle." Ezra heard a guard call him from behind. He turned around to find two hooded Zanybe guards walking towards him.

"We have some news regarding your daughter."

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**Feel free to leave your opinions.**


	8. Cursed

**Thanks for the reviews and I own nothing. Caution: scenes of abuse.**

* * *

**VIII: Cursed**

Amy sat at the back of the purple tent and sighed as she stared into the dark woods. Her father hadn't come home that night and even though she had only been away from home for a few days, she already missed her friends terribly. She wondered if they were doing ok.

She straightened her legs out in front of her as she picked at the grass, trying to stop her heart from aching for a certain blue hedgehog. Amy hated being away from him and was beginning to wonder how long it would take them to find her if she ran away.

They'd probably catch her soon enough and then execute her or something for treason. To be honest that would be if she was lucky. It had never been confirmed but there were rumours of a torture room. Amy gulped as she thought about all the evidence for its existence. People who had messed with taboo magic or did something else bad would be dragged into the Oracle's temple by guards and wouldn't be seen for days. Finally they'd reappear, but they wouldn't be themselves anymore. It was a scary thought and Amy knew that she was now playing with fire. She just hoped that Sonic and that Kiko girl could keep their mouths shut about her tribe, otherwise they'd trace the information back to her and she'd be in deep trouble.

Amy jumped as she heard someone clear their throat behind her and she twisted around to see her father stood there with an unreadable expression on his face.

"Father?"

"Inside." Ezra ordered as he pointed to the tent and Amy got up without a word and did as she was told.

Ezra roughly pulled the curtains shut behind them and turned around to glare murderously at Amy.

"Father, what's happened?" Amy's voice shook as she asked him.

"You tell me." Ezra snapped as he folded his arms across his chest.

Amy stared at him for a few seconds. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about."

"The temple of the sun you said." Ezra laughed as he began walking in circles around her.

Amy gulped and this made Ezra laugh harder.

"Ah, so you know you've been caught out?" He stopped laughing to glare at her. He stopped in front of her and stared at her before smacking her across the face.

Amy cried out in pain as she fell to the floor, pressing her palm against her cheek that felt like it was on fire.

"Are you trying to make a fool out of me?!" Ezra screamed at her and Amy cringed away from him. "Well?! ARE YOU!?"

Amy yelped as he grabbed hold of her quills and pulled her up to face him.

"You lying, disobedient little girl!" Ezra shouted at her. "The trackers managed to find your actual location and saw these little friends that you'd made. Aww, isn't that sweet?"

"Did they harm them?!" Amy yelled as she tried to punch him, but Ezra grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed her knuckles making her cry out in pain again.

"Why don't you go to them and find out?" Ezra spat as he threw her on the floor again.

Amy had had enough and growled as she summoned her hammer before charging towards her father. Just as she was about to hit him, his disappeared and Amy looked around and all she could hear was his laugh.

"You're no match for me you stupid girl."

She felt something hard hit the back of her head and she was knocked onto the ground again.

"You can't go against a Zanybe elder!" Ezra said as he reappeared next to her. "Did you have fun with these friends of yours over the years?"

Amy didn't answer as she clutched her head that was now throbbing. She squeezed her eyes shut, praying that this was just a vivid nightmare and that soon she would wake up in her own house. Nothing happened and she cringed as she heard her father laughing at her.

"Looks like they may have discovered your little secret too." Ezra barked as he kicked Amy over as she attempted to stand up. Her vision was fuzzy and his voice seemed to echo. She rubbed the back of her head in an attempt to stop the pain and she sighed with relief as her vision began to clear again. At least that meant the head wound wasn't too severe.

"What are you talking about?" Amy managed to gasp out as she tried to grab her hammer, but Ezra stepped on her hand.

"About our tribe!" Ezra yelled and Amy cringed away from him. "Your carelessness could cost us our secret. Before we know it we'll have all sorts of people coming to look for us!"

"They wouldn't do anything like that." Amy defended them, but Ezra just added more weight onto Amy's hand and she whimpered in pain as she tried to claw at his foot in an attempt to get him to move. He didn't seem to notice her efforts though.

Amy then sighed with relief as he stepped off her hand and Amy quickly flexed her fingers to try and get her blood circulating again. She reached for her hammer and watched to see what her father did next.

He walked over to the table and picked up one of Amy's tarot cards.

"I'm going to keep quiet about this. No one else can possible know about you slipping our secret. Don't worry, I killed the guards that told me the news so they won't be giving us any trouble." Ezra explained as he examined the card in his hand.

Amy gasped and took a step away from him. How could he talk about murdering someone so casually? It wasn't uncommon in the tribe, but she never guessed that her own father had the capability. Amy felt like she wanted to throw up. No Sonic to back her up this time. She would have to get out of this situation on her own.

"But don't worry, they don't seem to be onto our trail too much." Ezra began pacing as he continued to gaze at the card before he stopped and turned to face Amy. "You are going to go back to them, make your excuses and convince them to drop the subject. Then you say goodbye forever and come straight back here. I'll send some guards to watch you so don't try anything clever."

"And what if I don't want to?" Amy snapped as she tightened her grip on her hammer.

Ezra just chuckled before he looked down at the card again and stroked it with his finger.

"I do believe it was your cards that got you caught in the first place." Ezra sighed as he pursed his lips in thought. "It seems a fitting punishment should have something to do with this."

He threw the card back on the table and Amy's eyes widened as she backed away, watching in fear as her father began to pulse with dark magic.

"Father, no!" Amy begged. "Please, anything but that!"

Ezra just shook his head shamefully. "You shouldn't have been such a bad daughter and gone against your father. You could've cost us our secret and you're forbidden from having relationships outside of the tribe! You're getting what you deserve!"

Amy screamed and tried to run outside, but her father was blocking her only escape. He easily caught her and pinned her against his body as he released dark magic that began to dance around her. He clasped his hand over her mouth as Amy tried to cry out.

All she could do was watch with frightened eyes as the dark magic swirled around her.

"Seen as you like looking into your future so much, which caused you to disobey me in the first place, let's see how much you like looking into the future after this." Ezra laughed as he tightened his grip on the struggling pink hedgehog. "I, Ezra of the beetle, curse Amy Rose to forever see horrific events in her future as punishment for going against her father!"

Amy bit his fingers and he yelped and dropped her. Amy tried running, but the magic instantly caught up with her and Amy fell to the floor as she felt the mist touch her skin. At first it felt as though she was being stroked by an angel, but that soon turned into a burning agony as the black mist entered her body. Amy screamed in pain as the whole of her body felt as though it was on fire.

Ezra just sighed as he watched her.

"You see? This is what you get for going against me, your father, and almost destroying your home." He said. "I want you gone by tonight and don't come back until you've convinced them to stop talking about the Zanybe tribe."

He stepped over her twitching body and swiftly left the tent. Amy dug her fingers into the floor as she tried to shake off the burning feeling that felt like it cut into her very soul. She panted heavily as the pain moved towards her head and eyes and her vision began to go dark.

She saw Sonic's face smiling at her before it suddenly twisted horrifically into something dark and dangerous. His eyes turned white and his fur turned dark and Amy screamed at the sight as this darker form of Sonic smirked at her. She closed her eyes and opened them again, hoping to see Sonic back to normal, but instead Sonic just vanished. Amy looked around the dark room she was in and saw her father and the Oracle stood in separate corners staring at her, both holding knives in their hands.

Amy screamed as her vision went back to normal and she could once again see the tent she was in. Her chest rose up and down rapidly as she tried to register everything that had just happened, but her shocked brain wouldn't co-operate with her.

Her own father had just cursed her.

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**Feel free to leave your opinions.**


	9. Returning

**Thanks for the reviews! I own nothing.**

* * *

**IX: Returning**

"Just face it Sonic," Tails insisted as the both sat in his workshop, "You're not going to find anything on the tribe because they don't exist. I just don't understand where all this is coming from."

"Because someone warned me about them." Sonic explained as he sat up straighter and glared out the window. "Someone told me they're going to harm Amy and me."

"Amy? What does she have to do with this?" Tails asked in confusion and Sonic shrugged.

"I just want to be prepared just in case." Sonic said.

Tails sighed. "Just trust me Sonic, if this psychotic tribe did exist then I definitely think we'd know about it."

Sonic thought for a moment before nodded. "I guess you're right, but I still feel bad for letting Kiko down on this one."

"I'm sure she'll get over and in time, she'll come to realise that the tribe doesn't exist either." Tails reassured his friend.

Sonic nodded. "Well, I'm off for a run. See you later buddy."

Sonic took off and was soon running through the forest. The trees blurred past him and it felt nice to have the breeze against his face. He needed some fresh air and some time to think. He pushed his legs harder and was about to break the sound barrier when he crashed into something small and soft.

"Whoa!" Both of them yelled as they got tangled up in each other and rolled down a steep hill. Once they finally reached the bottom, Sonic grunted as his victim landed on top of him.

"Ouch!" He heard a familiar tinkling voice exclaim and Sonic opened his eyes to see pink fur.

"Amy?!" He cried out and Amy pushed himself off him.

"I didn't think you'd be that excited to see me." She wheezed as she rubbed her sore body.

"Oh my gosh Amy, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you." Sonic apologised as he tried to help her up.

She smiled up at him. "It doesn't matter, I'm just so happy so see you again." She sounded close to tears. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly and Sonic grunted under her strength.

"Umf…Amy…as happy as I am…to see you…I still need to…breathe." Sonic choked out and Amy gasped before releasing him.

"Sorry!" Amy shrieked as she let him go and Sonic gasped in as much oxygen as he could.

"What are you doing back here?" Sonic asked once he'd caught his breath back. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, it's just I thought you'd be gone for a few months." He added awkwardly.

Amy just shrugged and smiled at him, but Sonic frowned at her. Something was deeply wrong and it gave Sonic a terrible feeling. She looked different. Not so much on the outside, but looking into her jade green eyes, something just seemed strange to him.

"Something is wrong." Sonic voiced his suspicions.

"Huh?" Amy said. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes clouded over for a split second and she seemed to flinch slightly before regaining her composure and smiling at him again.

"Amy what's going on?" Sonic demanded as he kept his eyes locked with hers. He'd seen that look somewhere before…he just couldn't remember.

"Nothing, I just have a bit of a headache from travelling that's all." Amy answered. "Now where's everyone else? I've missed them so much."

Sonic narrowed his eyes at her slightly before deciding to let the subject drop for now.

"Well, Tails is in his workshop, I could take you there." He offered and Amy nodded.

When they arrived, Kiko was already stood outside the door waiting. Out of the corner of his eye Sonic noticed Amy freeze momentarily when she saw her before she kept on walking. Amy was acting really strange and he wanted to get to the bottom of it. He had this horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was seriously wrong. Sonic didn't get these gut feelings very often, but when he did, he was usually right and that's what was worrying him; especially because Amy seemed to be involved.

"Hey Sonic!" Kiko called out and Tails made his way outside.

"Amy?" Tails asked in surprise.

"Hey Tails, long time no see." Amy laughed.

"I thought you wouldn't be back for a few months. It's only been a week." Tails commented.

Amy smiled again and it seemed really fake to Sonic. "Slight change of plan."

"Well, that's great." Tails said before nodding at Sonic for him to confess to Kiko that he was pulling out of her project.

"Umm, listen Kiko." Sonic began awkwardly. "About the Zanybe project…"

Amy stiffened and Kiko looked like she knew what Sonic was about to say.

"We really can't find any more information, why don't we just call it quits?" Sonic admitted.

"No!" Kiko yelled. "I'm not giving up! I know they're real!"

"Listen Kiko," Amy said, "I've loved magic and legends all my life, but there are times when I had to accept that certain stories and legends were just that: stories. They don't exist."

"But that symbol on your cards!" Kiko shrieked and Amy flinched. Sonic looked at her suspiciously, but she ignored him and pretended nothing happened.

"I know I've seen it somewhere. Where'd you get the cards? I know it has something to do with the tribe!" Kiko stormed over to Amy and glared at her. "I know you're hiding something!"

A terrified look flickered across Amy's face before she glared back at the little fox.

"Kiko, they don't exist! There's no evidence that proves their existence!" Amy yelled and Sonic and Tails looked at her in shock at how angry she was getting.

"Yes there is!" Kiko yelled back. "No one will listen though!"

"Because it's all just speculation!" Amy shouted. "Grow up Kiko! This magic fairy hedgehog tribe isn't real!"

Kiko gasped and tears welled up in her eyes. Amy didn't look like she felt any remorse for what she had said and continued to glare at Kiko as she ran away crying her eyes out.

"You could've handled that a little better Amy." Sonic whispered and Amy just huffed.

"She's the reason I'm in this mess." Sonic thought he heard Amy mumble, but it was so quiet that he wasn't sure if he was hearing things.

"Listen, I'll go talk to her, help calm her down and accept that she has to move on from this fantasy of hers." Tails offered and Sonic nodded in appreciation.

Tails quickly flew off after her leaving the blue and pink hedgehog alone together.

"Want to come in?" Sonic asked awkwardly and Amy nodded without a word and followed him inside.

They both collapsed on the couch together and Amy took a deep breath.

"Maybe I should apologise to her." She admitted. "I was a little harsh."

"I can imagine that you'd be the kid that told other kids that Santa wasn't real." Sonic chuckled which earned him a glare from the frustrated pink hedgehog.

"Sorry." He quickly mumbled, hoping she wouldn't hit him over the head with her infamous hammer. Luckily, she didn't.

"I've just had a bit of a long week. My father's been a bit sick lately and I'm just stressed out over it." Amy sighed and Sonic patted her shoulder awkwardly not knowing what else to do.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." He tried to reassure her.

"Did your parents get sick Sonic?" Amy asked. "What happened to them?"

Sonic looked at her with wide eyes. He'd never really thought about his parents before.

"I…I don't know who my parents are." He answered honestly.

"Really?" Amy gasped.

Sonic nodded thoughtfully. "I've been on my own for as long as I can remember. I just ran around on my own until I met Tails."

"You must have been pretty lonely." Amy noted and Sonic laughed and shook his head.

"Nah!" He chuckled. "I didn't know any different."

"Sorry Sonic." Amy whispered.

Sonic snorted. "Don't worry about it. You can't miss what you never had."

Amy continued to look down sadly and Sonic decided to change the subject.

"Want some food?" He asked as he hoped down off the couch.

He jumped as Amy suddenly gasped loudly.

"What is it?" He demanded, his instincts going on overdrive as he looked around the room before staring at Amy. Her eyes had gone all cloudy again and she had an expression of pure horror on her face.

"Amy?" Sonic gasped. "Are you ok?"

He reached out to touch her arm, but Amy screamed as soon as his hand made contact and punched him in the face.

"Ouch!" Sonic cried out and looked up in shock as Amy began crying. She backed away from him until her back hit the wall.

"Stay away from me!" She ordered him weakly and Sonic looked at her in confusion.

"Amy, what's going on?" He asked as he tried to walk towards her, but this just seemed to frighten Amy even more.

"M-Monster…" She murmured as she continued to stare at him with a look of pure fear on her face.

"Monster?" Sonic repeated. "Amy what are you talking about? Don't be scared. It's just me."

Her eyes became clear again and she blinked in shock.

"W-what happened?" She stuttered as she looked around wildly.

"I might ask you the same thing." Sonic replied as he rubbed the sore spot on his cheek where she had punched him. "Why the hell did you punch me Amy?"

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**Feel free to leave your opinions. **


	10. Dark Visions

**Thanks for the reviews and I own nothing!**

* * *

**X: Dark Visions**

"I hit you?" Amy gasped and Sonic nodded in shock.

"I'm so sorry!" Amy cried and Sonic took a cautious step towards her and when he saw that Amy wasn't going to have another fit on him, he approached her and crouched down next to her.

"Amy, what's the matter?" He asked softly. "You've been acting funny for ages."

"I can't tell you." She whispered and Sonic tried to bottle up his frustration.

"Well, if you don't tell me then how can I help you?"

Amy sniffed and let her head fall onto his shoulder. "You can't help me." She sighed.

Sonic just let her cry against his shoulder for a few minutes. Why was Amy acting so strange? That look on her face…he'd seen it somewhere before and he was getting frustrated that he couldn't remember why it seemed so familiar. Sonic was never one to get scared, but Amy's behaviour was definitely giving him the creeps.

"Amy, please talk to me." Sonic begged as he grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "You know how much I hate tears." He added as he stroked her cheek before dropping his hand once he realised what he was doing.

"I've just been having bad nightmares, that's all." Amy mumbled.

"Nightmares?" Sonic repeated, not buying her story.

She nodded. "Really bad ones."

Sonic sighed before tapping her on the nose with his finger. "No more funny episodes?"

He figured he's try and get more information out of her after she'd calmed down.

"Hopefully." Amy murmured and Sonic helped her up.

He definitely knew that something was wrong.

.

Tails timidly poked his head around Kiko's office door and caught sight of her sulking as she sat next to her desk flicking through all her books about the Zanybe tribe.

"Hey Kiko." Tails said and Kiko refused to acknowledge that he was there.

"May I come in?" He asked and Kiko still didn't say anything, so Tails just walked in and stopped in front of her desk.

"Ummm, are you ok?" He asked awkwardly.

Kiko looked up and glared at him. "How could you ask that? My life's work is just a sham, a laughing stock!"

Tails sighed. "Look I know what Amy said was harsh –"

"Oh really?" Kiko snapped, but Tails just continued on.

"She's not normally mean even though she can be a little crazy sometimes, she'd never deliberately hurt anybody's feelings." Tails tried to explain.

"I know Amy is hiding something! I don't why and I don't know what." Kiko mumbled as she clenched her fists.

"Amy's never been good at keeping secrets so I highly doubt that." Tails chuckled trying to lighten up the situation.

"Maybe this secret is the exception to that rule."

Tails sighed. "Look I know this is your life's work and all, but maybe you have to come to terms with the fact that the Zanybe tribe don't exist."

Kiko huffed and folded her arms across her chest. "I know that they're out there!"

"I'm afraid I have to disagree –"

"LA LA LA LA!" Kiko sang loudly as she covered her ears with her hands.

"Would you just listen?!" Tails shouted and Kiko looked at him in shock and lowered her hands.

"I know you don't want to hear this, but sometimes you just have to face the truth. You can't devote your life to some fantasy." Tails said truthfully. "You need to just accept that they don't exist."

Kiko sniffed. "I was so sure though."

Tails looked at her sympathetically and placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort.

"Well, we can all get things wrong." Tails said. "This is for the best though. The Zanybe tribe have many great legends, but they stop at that. They have no place in reality."

"So I've wasted my life on this fairy tale then?" Kiko whimpered as tears leaked out of her eyes.

Tails looked down at her guiltily. "Not really. You still have the rest of your life ahead of you."

Kiko sighed. "But Sonic said – "

"Sonic has been acting strange for months so I'm taking everything he says with a pinch of salt right now." Tails admitted. "I wouldn't take anything he says too seriously right now."

"What do you mean he's acting strange?" Kiko asked.

Tails sighed as sat down on her desk. "It's hard to explain. Ever since my birthday a few months ago, he seems on edge. He agreed to go on a date with Amy which was the official beginning of all this strangeness."

"What's so strange about him dating Amy?" Kiko chuckled.

"Well, I always had a feeling that Sonic secretly liked her. Amy's been obsessively in love with Sonic since she appeared out of no-where, but he always ran away from her. Then all of a sudden he wants to get to know her. Then he randomly starts going on about the Zanybe tribe and I'm still trying to fully figure out where he heard about them, but he's so closed off about it. I think he's been having nightmares lately too; I heard him crying out for Amy the other night."

"Wowzers." Kiko gasped.

"Something's messed with his head and I'd love to know what." Tails muttered as he tapped his fingers against the dark wooden desk.

"I'd love to know where he heard about the Zanybe tribe too. They're not often talked about." Kiko said.

"Oh well, we can just forget about the tribe now." Tails said as he stood up in preparation to leave.

"I can't believe they're just a stupid myth!" Kiko cried out as she picked up and angrily threw it across the office.

The thick book made a loud bang noise as it slammed against the wall and landed on the floor, opening up onto a page in the middle of the old looking book. A giant symbol had been drawn on the right page and Kiko gasped when she saw it.

"I knew I'd seen that symbol somewhere!" She shrieked as she ran towards the book and picked it up, her eyes intensely scanning the page.

"Kiko, I thought you agreed it was all a myth?" Tails sighed as he watched the small fox read hungrily.

"Sssh!" She shushed him as her eyes widened at what she was reading.

"What is it?" Tails asked as he approached and looked at the symbol.

"This is all the proof I need to prove their existence. You can't lie to me now Amy Rose!" Kiko yelled and Tails just stood there looking at her in confusion.

"What's Amy got to do with this?" Tails asked and Kiko flipped the book around to show him the symbol.

"You see this symbol? I saw the exact same one on the back of Amy's tarot cards." She explained. "This is a symbol of great importance."

"Kiko, what the hell are you talking about?" Tails demanded getting frustrated. He thought she'd dropped the whole topic and accepted that the tribe didn't exist.

"Oh my goodness!" Kiko gasped as she continued reading. "This is the symbol of a tribal elder who specialised in divination. He was very powerful and skilled at predicting the future and designed his own tarot cards to aid him in his work. He would the go onto pass the cards down to the eldest child in his family and then that process would continue. Don't you see Tails?"

Tails just blinked at her.

"The cards were passed down to Amy!" Kiko exclaimed. "She's a descendant of that elder so Amy isn't just holding back small clue as to whether the tribe exists. She's a member of the tribe!"

They were both silent for a few moments.

"You can't be serious?" Tails chuckled.

Kiko groaned. "Look Tails, do you know anything about Amy's life before she met you?"

Tails thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"Amy must have run away for some reason. Not that I blame her. The tribe is pretty horrible." Kiko commented.

"We can't be sure…" Tails said and Kiko threw a book at him which he managed to dodge.

"What other explanation can there be as to how Amy gained possession of the cards? She's obviously the daughter of someone of a very high rank within the tribe. I need to speak to her!" Kiko shrieked as she ran out the door.

"Kiko wait!" Tails begged as he ran after her.

He had a horrible feeling that this wouldn't end well.

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**Feel free to leave your opinions. **


	11. Runaway Hedgehog

**Thank you for the reviews. I own nada.**

* * *

**XI: Runaway Hedgehog**

Sonic watched Amy out of the corner of his eye as she flicked through the TV channels. She appeared to look normal so far and hadn't had an episode for more than an hour. He raided the fridge as he tried to force himself to remember where he had seen that look before. She had looked at him and called him a monster…that had really freaked him out. Why did she think he was some sort of monster?

He jumped as he heard Amy gasp again and he instantly ran into the living room where Amy had crushed the TV remote into millions of pieces. She was staring ahead of herself with a blank expression on her face before a look of pure fear crossed her usually happy features.

"Amy!" Sonic called out to her as he rushed forward and began shaking her shoulders.

She didn't respond to him as she remained frozen on the spot and Sonic tried shaking her again.

"Amy please, tell me what's wrong!" He begged starting to feel panicked.

Amy had never behaved this way before, the only time he'd seen her behave this way was when…

"NO!" Sonic cried out as he fell to his knees in front of her.

Now he remember where he had seen her look like this. When he was in the future and they were all preparing to rescue Sky, Amy's face had gone blank as she saw visions of the future. Her curse. The curse the Zanybe tribe had place upon her and stole away her normal cheerful attitude. The pink hedgehog had gone mad through seeing the horrors in her future.

Amy face turned normal again and she looked down at Sonic in confusion.

"What are you doing on the floor?" She asked and gasped as Sonic hugged her legs tightly.

"I'm so sorry Amy!" He cried out and Amy tried to push him off her.

"Sorry for what?" She asked sounding slightly scared at how Sonic was acting.

"I was supposed to protect you!" Sonic yelled as he tried to fight back tears. "I was supposed to stop this from happening!"

"Stop what?!" Amy shrieked as she finally managed to push Sonic off her. She stood up and backed away from him fearfully as he continued to stare at her with horrified eyes.

"Your curse." Sonic whispered as his eyes burned with the tears he refused to let fall.

Amy blinked at him and a flicker of fear passed across her face before she replaced it with a cold hard mask.

"Sonic, what are you talking about?" She demanded as she placed her hands on her hips.

"The Zanybe tribe cursed you." Sonic replied and Amy took a step away from him and her eyes darted around the room. "I was going to stop that from happening! How did they get hold of you? Did they ambush you? I'll kill them all." He added with a growl.

"Whoa whoa whoa Sonic!" Amy gasped out. "Calm down. Nothing's wrong with me."

Sonic glared at her and shook his head. "Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not lying!" Amy shrieked.

"I know the Zanybe tribe has cursed you to see horrible vision of the future." Sonic stated and Amy's face turned pale.

"H-h-how?" Amy stuttered as a single tear leaked out of the corner of her eye.

"It doesn't matter!" Sonic yelled. "Right now, we all need to go far away. Forever!"

"What?" Amy asked fearfully as Sonic began pacing the room like a man possessed.

"I need to stop all of it from coming true. I need to stop it all." Sonic muttered to himself before turning to Amy. "I'll get you some help and we'll stay as far away from the tribe as possible. We could hide together and they will never get us."

"Sonic, you're scaring me." Amy whimpered as she took a step away from him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"It doesn't matter because I won't let it come true."

"Let what come true?"

"I said it doesn't matter!" Sonic barked out and Amy gasped again as her eyes unfocused. "What is it?" Sonic asked as he appeared at the side of her. "Will my plan work?"

Amy whimpered. "Leave me alone father!"

"Huh?" Sonic looked at her, confused.

"You can't change someone's feelings!" Amy screamed and Sonic continued to stare at her, waiting for the vision to pass.

"S-Sonic…"

"I'm right here, Amy." He whispered as he placed his arms around her.

She pushed him off her with so much force, he fell over and Amy looked at him fearfully again.

"I just want my Sonic back." She whimpered as she backed against the wall.

"What are you talking about?" Sonic's voice shook. He had a terrible feeling that he knew exactly what she was talking about. He begged with all his heart to let him not be right.

Amy's face went back to normal and she blinked in shock.

"No more lies, Amy." Sonic frowned at her. "I know you've come across the Zanybe tribe and they've cursed you."

She stared at him for a few seconds before she darted out the back door. Sonic gasped and dashed out after her and he looked around to see where she ran off to, but he couldn't see her anywhere. Wow, he forgot how fast she could be sometimes.

"Amy?!" He called out for her in a panicky voice as his eyes darted around the trees.

He heard a noise to the left side of him and he turned around expecting to see Amy, but frowned when he saw it was only Tails and Kiko.

"Where's Amy, it's important that I speak with her." Kiko said seriously.

"You didn't see where she ran off to?" Sonic demanded as he stared at them with wide eyes.

Tails caught on so Sonic's panicked state and looked at him in shock.

"I thought she was with you." Tails gasped. "Why would she run off?"

"I'm not sure, but she's been cursed by the Zanybe tribe." Sonic explained.

Tails' jaw dropped open.

"Thus all the clues fall into place." Kiko said. "Sonic, Amy is the daughter of a Zanybe tribe elder."

Sonic's eyes widened. "WHAT?!"

"I'll explained later." Kiko replied. "Right now we have to find her and fast."

.

Amy panted as she finally climbed to the top of the master emerald shrine. She collapsed onto her knees onto the old stone ground and peered over the edge. No sign of Sonic so far. She sighed with relief once she realised she'd lost him. Normally, she would've found this situation humorous. Sonic chasing her for once instead of the other way around. But in this case, their lives could be in danger.

The visions she had in Sonic and Tails' house were the worst ones yet. She saw herself locked in a dark cell, chained to a wooden table with the only source of light coming from a torch that illuminated and old looking wooden door. Her father entered the room and said some strange things to her. That she was silly and all these feelings were in her head and none of them were real. She then found herself running into one of Eggman's bases where Sonic was hovering in the air…but it wasn't Sonic. It was the same creepy darker form of him.

She cringed as she tried to shake the image out of her head. She nearly screamed as she heard footprints coming towards her and turned around to see it was only Knuckles.

"Amy?" He asked in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"Just need a place to hide for a couple of hours." Amy answered as she looked down to see if she could see any sign of Sonic.

"What? Why?" Knuckled demanded as he walked towards her.

"Sonic's after me." She replied honestly and Knuckles laughed.

"What did you do?" He chuckled. "Eat his last chilidog?"

Amy didn't say anything as she trembled with fear. What if the Zanybe guards had already got hold of him? This was all her own fault. Why did she have to get involved with her friends? She should've gone to the temple of the sun like she'd promised and now all of her friends were doomed to die because of her selfishness.

Knuckle's smile disappeared once he saw how scared Amy looked.

"Has Sonic done something to hurt you?" He demanded with a growl. "Don't worry, I'll knock that blue idiot out!"

"No!" Amy begged. "He hasn't done anything!"

Knuckles was about to say something when Sonic landed in front of him.

"No more games Amy!" Sonic snapped and Amy gasped, backing away from him.

"Leave her alone Sonic!" Knuckles snarled as he tried to punch the blue hedgehog.

Sonic jumped out of the way just in time and looked at Knuckles with a puzzled expression.

"I'm trying to help her Knucklehead!" Sonic snapped.

Tails flew down with Kiko in his arms and they both landed next to Sonic, looking at Amy with determined expressions.

"Amy, we know everything." Kiko announced and Amy looked around wildly for any Zanybe guards.

"We know you're a member of the tribe." Sonic confessed.

"Sssh!" Amy begged, her eyes still darting around the area.

"We know that you've been cursed and that you're the daughter of an elder." Kiko said with a satisfied smirk on her face. "I knew they were real and now I have all the proof I need."

"Will you please be quiet!" Amy continued to beg, but they wouldn't listen.

"What are you talking about?" Knuckles asked, frowning at everyone.

"We've just found out something quite extraordinary." Kiko laughed happily. "The Zanybe tribe are real. No one can laugh at me now and I'm going to prove their existence to the world."

Everyone froze as a grey mist began appearing from the trees.

"Now you've done it." Amy sighed in defeat. "You wouldn't listen."

"Huh?" Kiko gasped fearfully as the light mist engulfed them.

"Why do I feel so…so…sleepy." Tails whispered before his eyes closed and he fell to the floor.

Amy watched in horror as Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Kiko all passed out and soon she could no longer fight her own drowsiness as the sleeping spell finally forced her under.

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**Feel free to leave your opinions.**


	12. The Zanybe Tribe

**Thank you for the reviews. I own nothing!**

**IMPORTANT NEWS: If you've read my profile then you already probably know this, but to save people sending me loads of messages demanding why I haven't updated, I felt like I needed to put this. I won't be able to update as often as I normally do, especially this story. Sorry, but I'm currently in college doing my AS courses and I picked the subjects that required me to memorise the most junk if I want to get high grades – which I do. So I'm going to be studying a lot for my exams that will be starting soon and this will continue until the end of May. I'm really sorry, but my exams come first. I hope that you understand and please be patient with me.**

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**XII: The Zanybe Tribe**

Sonic groaned as his eyes slowly drifted open. His whole body ached and he flexed his fingers and felt shocked as they brushed against a cold stone surface. He shook his head, trying to clear it and looked around to see Tails, Knuckles and Kiko doing the same before looking around in confusion. The only person who was missing was…

"Amy?" Sonic called as he looked around for her.

"They must have taken her." Kiko replied before groaning and placing a hand on her head. "Wowzers, what the hell hit us?"

"Must've been some sort of sleeping gas." Tails responded.

Sonic stood up and ran towards the bars of the prison cell that they appeared to be locked in. Sonic twitched at the thought. He couldn't stand being in enclosed spaces and being restricted in his movements, he felt like he was already starting to go crazy.

"Stand back!" Sonic ordered everyone. "I'm going to bust us out of here." He began to move backwards, preparing to spin dash when Knuckles walked over, grabbed hold of the bars and bent them apart to make a big enough gap for them to climb through.

Sonic blinked at him.

"The last thing we need is you going overkill again and those crazy people finding out that we've escaped." Knuckles explained as Tails and Kiko climbed out.

Sonic and Knuckles followed and they looked down the long corridor all lined with the bars of the many other separate prison cells.

"Which way is the way out?" Kiko whimpered.

"Well they probably placed us the first available cell away from the entrance so I'm guessing we go right." Tails replied and Kiko grabbed hold of his hand tightly and Tails looked around awkwardly.

Tails seemed to be right as all the cells on their way down were filled with many different hedgehogs who were all either curled up in a corner or passed out. Sonic squinted his eyes as he tried to locate the light of an exit and he smiled as soon as they found one.

"We need to find Amy." Sonic insisted and everyone apart from Kiko nodded.

"Should we?" She asked and everyone stared at her in horror.

"What did you just say?" Knuckles hissed at her and Kiko held up her hands in surrender.

"I'm just saying that this is her home. She was probably sent to her family and I'm sure she's safe." Kiko explained.

.

"You couldn't even do one thing!" Ezra hissed as he pinned Amy against the stone wall of the temple.

"I-I'm…sorry." Amy tried to choke out as she attempted to try and kick her father off her, but he wouldn't budge.

"You're no match for me girl, you never were!" Ezra spat. "Those little friends of yours will be executed and you will be initiated like a good little obedient daughter!"

"ENOUGH!" A booming voice called behind them and the Oracle walked over to them followed by Nero.

"Your holiness." Ezra bowed as he let go of Amy who fell to the floor with a thud.

"There will be no need for discipline." The Oracle said calmly and Ezra and Nero looked at him in confusion.

"The girl cost us our secret!" Nero said. "No offense to you Ezra, but your daughter appears to be out of control."

Ezra glared down at Amy who cowered away from him.

"Amy Rose has done no wrong; in fact she has done us a great service." The Oracle announced.

The red and blue hedgehog looked at him in shock.

"She revealed us!" Nero hissed. "They all must pay!"

"Calm yourself Nero, for she has brought you a great blessing." The Oracle smiled at him. "Something you have longed for, for so long."

The blue hedgehog snorted and shook his head before storming off.

"Crack pot." He muttered under his breath before disappearing.

"Crazy, maybe." The Oracle chuckled. "Wise and all knowing, definitely."

Amy stood up and tried to sneak away, but her father quickly grabbed hold of her arm, keeping her in place and Amy huffed in frustration.

"Your initiation is drawing close my dear, I sense a god becoming impatient for your arrival." The Oracle explained and Ezra beamed. "As for your friends, they are to be released."

"What?" Ezra gasped and Amy blinked at the Oracle in shock.

"I sense great power among them." He said looking like he was in a daze. "They are to be kept here and will be of great assistance."

"Of course your holiness." Ezra bowed and the Oracle nodded before walking away.

"You are one lucky little hedgehog!" Ezra snapped at Amy and she glared back at him.

"It wasn't my fault!" Amy shrieked.

Ezra silenced her. "Not another word. You must learn to take responsibility for your actions! Do you want people to come looking for us? Try to convert us to their horrible ways of living? Their silly ideas about the world?"

Amy said nothing as she glared down at the grass before looking up as she heard a commotion at the other side of the temple. Amy and Ezra looked at each other before running around to see what was going on.

She gasped as she saw Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Kiko all trying to fight their way out.

"Amy!" Sonic shrieked as he saw her before getting knocked over by one of the guards.

The others continued to fight as even more Zanybe guards swarmed around them.

"No!" Amy screamed as she lost sight of her friends.

"Guards stop!" The Oracle shouted as he appeared out of nowhere beside them.

The guards instantly stopped and bowed to the Oracle before leaving and Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Kiko looked around in shock.

"I'm here, I'm really here." Amy heard Kiko mumbling to herself and she rolled her eyes at the fox.

"What's going on?" Sonic demanded as he stepped up to face the Oracle. "Where are we? Who are you?"

"Ah, so you're the powerful one I sense." The Oracle said as he looked Sonic up and down. "I nearly didn't recognise you, you have grown into a fine young man."

"Huh?" Sonic said in confusion, folding his arms across his chest and leaning shifting his weight onto one leg.

"You are most welcome here." The Oracle said ignoring Sonic's confusion, before turning to face Knuckles.

"You too Knuckles." The Oracle bowed.

Knuckles glared at him. "How do you know my name?" He snapped.

"You are the great guardian of the Master Emerald and the last of your echidna clan who we were great friends with many centuries ago. Naturally, I know who you are." The Oracle explained and Knuckles blinked at him.

"I don't remember the Zanybe being spoken about."

The Oracle shook his head. "We ceased contact with them over three hundred years ago, I believed their memory of us died out."

"I have so many questions." Kiko interrupted and the Oracle studied her before frowning at her.

"Your quest for this knowledge cost you your friend." The Oracle said simply before he turned his back on them and started walking off. "Your tents shall be prepared for you." He said before disappearing.

Kiko looked offended and confused and Sonic ran towards Amy. He looked like he was about to embrace her, but Amy stepped away and pleaded at him with her eyes not to do anything. Sonic looked like he took the hint as he struggled to hide the rejection on his face.

Ezra huffed and walked off and Amy sighed with relief.

"I need to speak with all of you in private." Amy whispered to them and they all nodded before following her into the woods.

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**Feel free to leave your opinions.**


	13. Revelations

**Thanks for the reviews and I own nothing.**

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**XIII: Revelations**

Everyone continued to follow Amy into the woods before she stopped near a huge oak tree and stood on one of the roots so she could see all around her in case anyone had decided to follow them and spy on them.

"I suppose you all have questions." She asked bitterly and Kiko immediately began jumping up and down in excitement, but Tails interrupted her.

"Why didn't you tell us, Amy?" He asked timidly and Amy sighed.

"Couldn't you tell?" She muttered miserably. "I was sworn to secrecy. People of the tribe aren't supposed to have contact with outsiders, we are forbidden to mix with others."

"Says who?" Kiko demanded.

"The law of the tribe." Amy replied. "People out in the world can't be allowed to gain knowledge of us because they'll be after our secrets. We're best left alone."

"But you left." Knuckles noted.

Amy nodded. "It's a long story. But now that you're here, be careful in what you say or do. People here are very…sensitive."

"Yeah yeah whatever." Kiko brushed off as she continued to bounce in excitement. "I want to have a look around."

"But – " Amy was about to argue before Tails cut in.

"I'll make sure she doesn't get into any bother." He reassured her.

Amy still didn't look convinced as Sonic, who had previously been deep in thought, walked towards Amy.

"Knuckles, maybe you should go with them." Sonic said.

Knuckles looked at him in confusion.

"But I –" He was about to protest before Tails elbowed him and pulled him away with them. Sonic shot his best friend a grateful look before glancing at Amy, still stood on the thick root of the tree.

"Is this why you got cursed?" Sonic asked slowly after a few moments of awkward silence. "Because you came to us."

"Yes." Amy whispered.

"I can't believe I let this happen." Sonic mumbled and Amy rolled her eyes.

"Don't blame yourself." She insisted. "I'm the one who kept the secrets and lied for so many years."

"Cursed to see horrible visions of the future." Sonic stated as he glared at the forest ground.

Amy blinked at him. "How do you know that?" She asked, taken aback.

"Lucky guess, so what is it you keep seeing?" Sonic asked sitting down next to Amy on the root of the tree.

Amy sighed. "I don't know if I should tell you."

"Tell me." Sonic insisted. "I can take it."

Amy took a deep breath and stared at him for a few seconds, trying to read his facial expression before she relented. "I see you a lot."

"Me?"

She nodded. "Only you're not you. One minute you're ok and then the next you're not. You keep morphing into this…I don't even know what it is. You just go dark."

Sonic tried to control his breathing as Amy explained it to him. He had a feeling he knew exactly what she was trying to describe to him. Amy's visions didn't always have to come true right? Sonic's heart skipped a beat as he thought back to his vow to change his future. He didn't seem to be doing a very good job so far. All he seemed to be doing was making everything come true. He guessed he would have to try harder. He knew there were things that were still supposed to happened to him and Amy due to the tribe and he would do everything he could to stop them.

"Sonic?" Amy's voice brought him back out of his daydream.

"Anything else?" He asked.

Amy gulped and Sonic looked at her suspiciously.

"W-well there is one more…" Amy gasped out as she began to look really nervous.

"You can tell me, it's ok." Sonic tried to reassure her.

"I'm locked up in some sort of room and I think I'm being tortured although I'm not too sure because I keep blacking out in the vision. It comes to me in bits and pieces and I can't make sense of it all, but from what I've seen it's…it's pretty horrific." Amy explained as her eyes darted around the area nervously.

Sonic stared at her. He definitely wouldn't be letting that vision come true.

"I won't let anything like that happen." He whispered. "I won't let any of your visions come true; that's a promise."

He took hold of her hand and squeezed it gently and Amy looked like she was about to cry.

"That's a huge thing to promise." She said as she savoured the moment of him holding her hand in such a loving way.

"Hey, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, no promise is too huge to make for me." He chuckled and Amy smiled before quickly pulling his hand out of his.

Sonic frowned at her. "Ok Amy, why are you so afraid to be near me?"

"I'm not afraid." Amy insisted as she looked around for spies again.

"Is it because of the vision?" Sonic asked.

"No."

"Then what is it?"

Amy sighed as she looked around once again before turning back to face Sonic.

"The tribe can't know that we're dating." Amy said, folding her arms across her chest.

"Huh? Why not?" Sonic demanded, feeling confused.

"It will be forbidden; especially because you're an outsider." She explained. "We date and marry who our parents choose. Love is forbidden, it's one of the most taboo forms of magic."

Sonic didn't know how to respond to that. Sure, he and Amy were dating but did he love her? He wasn't too sure yet. He knew he liked her a lot more than a friend, but was love the right word yet? What's this about it being magical anyway? Why is it so forbidden?

"What makes it so forbidden?" Sonic asked, voicing his thoughts.

"It's dangerous and deadly." Amy explained and Sonic snorted, but Amy ignored him and carried on explaining. "When our ancestors were gifted with magic by the Gods over a thousand years ago, we became incredibly powerful people, but this came at a price. Our own emotions became our weaknesses and became dangerous to us as we were more influenced by them. When angered, we could destroy a whole forest. However, if we were in love it becomes over a hundred times more powerful than it normally would've so we could become obsessed and easily attached so you could imagine what would happen if someone was to suffer from heartbreak. It happened once to someone I think, but the documents of the events have been sealed away and showing too much emotion, especially love was then made taboo on pain of death."

Sonic's eyes widened as he listened to Amy's story. "Good job for me because I don't do emotional yucky stuff."

Amy rolled her eyes. "No need to tell me that." She mumbled.

"But seriously Amy," Sonic said as he grabbed hold of her arm. "We need to get out of here."

Amy sighed. "We can't."

"What do you mean?" Sonic asked.

"The Oracle seemed really interested in you and that means you're here to stay. There's no way you'll be able to escape without being caught. Fastest thing alive or not, you don't know what you're dealing with here, so you need to do as I say."

"Yeah I highly doubt they'll catch me." Sonic chuckled.

Amy just stared at him seriously. "Fine, go ahead and run off but I need to stay here."

"What? Why?!" Sonic snapped. "You can't seriously want to stay in this mad place?"

"Don't be stupid Sonic, I don't want to; I have to." Amy said seriously. "My initiation is in a few days where I'll be chosen by a God and I need to please my father to get him off my back. Besides, if I run away again they'll probably kill me. I've got away with too many things around here; my last chance is literally hanging on by a thread."

Sonic huffed in frustration. He really didn't like the idea of any of his friends being here. This tribe was psychopathic and dangerous, even worse than Shadow when he was in a bad mood. They had already cursed Amy so he still couldn't quite understand why they had to stay.

.

Ezra paced the office of the Oracle in frustration while the Oracle sat calmly at his desk and Nero watched him from the corner.

"I don't understand your holiness." Ezra sighed as he stopped in front of the Oracle's desk. "Why exactly did you release the prisoners again?"

"I sense great power and a very interesting future." The Oracle replied with a small smile on his old features.

"Yes yes yes, we know that bit." Nero snapped as he pushed himself off the wall and stood beside Ezra. "We want the details."

"The echidna is sacred and must not be harmed for he is the guardian of the precious master emerald." The Oracle explained. "We must have it transported here for him."

"What about that blue hedgehog?" Ezra asked having noticed that he was the one the Oracle seemed most interested in.

"I'm still surprised you didn't recognise him Nero." The Oracle chuckled before turning serious again. "He is not to be harmed either. All will be revealed soon. I just want to watch him for a few days until your Amy's initiation and only then I can be sure of my suspicions."

"And the two foxes?" Nero demanded as he took his dagger out of his belt and stabbed it into the desk and splinters of wood shot in random directions.

The Oracle sighed. "We have no use for them two. I can see what you're itching to do my dear Nero of the Cicada. Eliminate them."

**Feel free to leave your opinions. **


	14. Poisonous Darts

**Woohoo! Most of my exams have finished now so I'll have time to update more often! Thanks for being patient with me. Do you like the cover GummyGal created? She is so talented. Thank you for all the reviews and I own nothing.**

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**XIV: Poisonous Darts **

Knuckles and Kiko stared into the green crystal ball in wonder. The mist inside swirled around and the elderly female purple hedgehog smiled at them as Tails stood off to one side looking fed up. He couldn't actually believe that those two were falling for this nonsense.

"Your life appears very cloudy, miss Kiko." The purple hedgehog said in her croaky voice. "Your thirst for knowledge can get you into serious trouble and put those you love at risk."

Kiko gasped and the women continued to gaze into the ball.

"I see your heart soon belonging to another before it is silenced waiting to be reawakened." The woman closed her eyes and sighed.

"Huh?" Kiko gasped out in confusion.

"Oh please," Tails snorted, "Don't listen to this Kiko. No one can predict the future and magic is a load of nonsense."

The elderly hedgehog's eyes snapped open and she glared at Tails. "I see we have a none believer. Execution awaits you."

"Ok ok, I believe." Tails rolled his eyes.

"That's not what I meant." The old hedgehog said before a dart flew past Tails' ear and lodged itself into the table the crystal ball was on.

"Stay down!" Knuckles ordered Tails and Kiko who immediately ducked out of the way.

Knuckles narrowed his eyes as he scanned the area with his fists ready for a fight. He couldn't see anyone nearby and he growled under his breath.

"Coward." Knuckles mumbled.

Tails got up and ran over to the dart and gently picked it up, careful not to touch the tip. He examined it closely and sniffed the end before his eyes widened.

"Poison." Tails gasped and Kiko whimpered in fear. "Why shoot us though? We didn't do anything."

"Are you kidding?" The old lady chuckled. "Everyone in this tribe wants each other dead one way or another. Murder is so common that you'd be lucky to live to my age."

"Tell us more miss." Kiko begged.

"Lemonade? I'm sorry dear but I don't have any lemonade, but do feel free to call me Jacosta." Jacosta smiled as she rocked back and forth on her chair.

"No not lemonade," Kiko sighed in frustration, "Tell us more about your tribe."

"Hmmm, I don't think I can tell outsiders. We don't like your lot you see." Jacosta said as she stared out into the trees.

"Please, Jacosta." Kiko begged. "Our friend Amy is a part of this tribe and we are just simply taking an interest and who better to tell us than you?"

"I'm not interested in anything you have to sell, but alright I'll tell…wait? Did you say Amy?" Jacosta smiled.

"Do you know her?" Tails asked.

Jacosta beamed. "Well, of course I do, she's such a lovely little thing. However, I think her father will soon knock that out of her."

"What do you mean?" Tails asked worriedly.

"Ack he always had high hopes for the poor dear. She's had it rough ever since her mother died. Tragic event to be murdered like that, it took her ages to die but she wasn't found until it was too late. The killer was never caught, but Ezra, Amy's father, changed after that. He became colder and he and the Oracle became convinced that Amy was destined for greatness."

"Who exactly is the Oracle?" Kiko asked, getting incredibly interested.

"The Oracle is a being of true wisdom. He is hand chosen by the gods to be the leader of the tribe and enforce the laws. He knows and sees everything." Jacosta smiled. "A lovely man he is too."

"How do you guys know about the master emerald? What do you plan to do with it?" Knuckles asked suspiciously.

Jacosta thought for a moment. "Well young lady, we have worshipped the chaos emeralds for centuries and only we understand their full power. Nero, one of the Oracles helpers, offered up his new born son to the powers of chaos in the hopes he would be the chosen one. It seemed that was not the case as the child never returned. Nero was humiliated."

"That sounds horrible! He just left his son in the middle of the forest?" Tails gasped in horror.

"Well yes, don't you leave your kids anywhere?" Jacosta asked.

"That's barbaric!" Tails shrieked before turning to Kiko. "I thought you said they were an advanced civilisation?"

"Depends on your definition of advanced." Kiko mumbled.

"No dear, I don't need any pants." Jacosta said. "We are on this planet to obey the gods and no one else. Their law is final and if we must offer up our children to please them, then so be it. May they rest peacefully in the underworld. In our gods we trust."

Tails, Kiko and Knuckles looked like they were going to be sick as they thought about what Jacosta was saying.

"Which reminds me," Jacosta said happily, "I got the invitation to Amy's initiation ceremony. You three lovely girls must be going too right?"

"I'm a boy." Knuckles grumbled. "Crazy old bat."

"What initiation?" Tails asked.

"Into the tribe of course." Jacosta laughed. "She will be chosen by one of the gods for a special task which she must fulfil on pain of death if she fails and her future seems to show – "

Jacosta never got to finish her sentence as she let out a strangled gasp as another dart was shot straight into her neck.

Kiko screamed and Knuckles began looking around wildly for their attacker. Tails bent down next to where Jacosta had fallen and pulled the dart out of her neck and felt his heart sinking in horror when he realise the poison had already been injected into her system and she had moments left.

"The blue hedgehog, chosen one of chaos, his darkness is coming." Jacosta choked out as she fought to keep her eyes open and Tails stared at her in shock. "His c-caged…up emotions will…b-be his un-undoing…I-I know he is your…friend…you must warn him…"

Tails watched as the light left her eyes and she went limp on the ground. Kiko began crying as Tails continued to sit there in a state of shock with the dart still in his hand.

"How could they?" Kiko shrieked. "We have to get out of here!"

"Agreed. None of us are safe here." Tails said in a panicked voice.

"We need to find Sonic and Amy." Knuckles added and they all nodded as they began running in the direction they had left them in.

The three of them froze as they saw a hooded figure in the distance and even though they couldn't see his eyes, they knew he was staring at them with a murderous ferocity.

Knuckles stood protectively in front of the others and glared furiously back.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Knuckles demanded.

Tails caught a flash of dark blue fur under the hood.

"Sonic?" He asked timidly, but the hooded figure didn't react.

"Outsiders shouldn't be meddling in what's none of their business. You're going straight to the underworld!" The figure yelled in a manic voice and began charging towards Tails and Kiko with his silver dagger held high in the air.

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**Feel free to leave your opinions. **


	15. Stolen Secrets

**Thanks for the reviews guys but seriously! No one seems to have caught on yet. Oh well, I guess it just means it will be more dramatic. I own nothing.**

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**XV: Stolen Secrets**

The hooded figure never managed to run more than a few feet before a blue blur leaped out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled in relief as he watched Sonic fight their attacker off.

Amy arrived on the scene and gasped as she watched the events in front of her.

"Leave my friends alone!" Sonic shouted at the stranger and punched him in the face.

The stranger quickly recovered and sat up, allowing his hood to fall down to reveal a dark blue hedgehog with a crazy light in his eyes. He stood up and charged towards Sonic with his knife and Sonic easily leapt out of the way, smirking at the dark blue hedgehog.

"Too slow." Sonic teased as he jumped out of the way again and yawned.

"How is this possible?" The dark blue hedgehog mumbled as he observed Sonic's speed. "You'd have to be blessed by the gods in order to be able to do something like that."

"What do you mean?" Sonic laughed. "I've always been able to do this and no god has told me otherwise."

"Stop it Nero, why are you hurting them?" Amy demanded as she jumped between Sonic and Nero.

"Sorry Rose, but we can't tolerate outsiders." Nero snapped as he motioned for her to move out of the way, but Amy stood her ground.

"Enough Nero!" The Oracle shouted as he appeared in front of him making everyone jump.

"You again!" Sonic accused as he glared at the old hedgehog.

"Yes powerful one, me again." The Oracle chuckled.

"He has been blessed by the gods!" Nero exclaimed as he pointed at Sonic. "What can this mean? He is an outsider!"

"My suspicions will be confirmed at Amy's initiation ceremony tomorrow." The Oracle explained.

"Tomorrow?!" Amy shrieked and looked panic stricken.

"Yes my dear, you must go with your father and prepare." The Oracle said and motioned for her to leave.

"But –" Amy protested before being interrupted by the Oracle.

"Have no fear, your friends will not be harmed as they are very special guests and some people will do well to remember it." The Oracle accused as he shot a glare at a confused looking Nero.

Amy didn't look very convinced as she shot them one last worried look before leaving.

"Would you kindly explain why this maniac was trying to kill us?" Knuckles snapped at the Oracle who kept staring at Sonic in a way that was making him feel uncomfortable.

"You'll have to forgive him." The Oracle bowed. "He's very protective of our secret you see, but of course I wouldn't want to harm our most precious guests."

"And what makes us so special?" Sonic demanded but the Oracle ignored him.

"We all have much to celebrate tomorrow. Your dear friend Amy will be initiated."

Knuckles huffed. "Why do I get the feeling that this isn't a good thing?" He mumbled to himself.

.

Amy sighed as she saw Sonic staring out longingly into the dark trees. The sun had set and the fires around the tribe had been lit so the air was filled with a warm orange glow. She slowly began making her way towards him and tried to calm her erratically beating heart.

"Hey." She greeted awkwardly.

"Hey." Sonic replied in the same tone.

"I can tell you just want to run off." Amy sighed. "I'm sorry I got you into this mess. I'm sorry I met you."

Sonic's eyes widened. "No, that's not what I'm thinking of at all."

"Then what are you thinking of? You've been acting kind of weird lately and I guess that's something coming from me. Sometimes when you're napping on Tails' couch, you seem restless in your sleep and always look like you're trying to brush something off yourself." Amy explained.

"It's complicated." Sonic sighed.

"Come on Sonic." Amy huffed. "You know you can always talk to me about anything."

"I just…something doesn't feel like. I keep getting terrible feelings that something bad is going to happen." He explained as he clenched his fists and glared into the trees.

Amy just chuckled. "Well we are in a tribe that's highly superstitious, curses people, kills people for fun and you know, normal everyday stuff."

"Not helping." Sonic muttered. "I just want to take you and the others and just run for it."

Amy sighed. "I've already explained this to you, I have to stay here. They'll be able to track me down and then I'll probably be executed and who knows what they'll do to you guys because you're outsiders. I suggest we just lay low for now and if an opportunity of escape comes up, we take it."

Sonic looked down sadly. "I don't like it, but it sounds like a plan." He said before looking up at her. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for your initiation?" He spat out the word as if it was the vilest thing he'd ever tasted.

"My father got too bossy and started ordering people around like always so I slipped out without him noticing." Amy giggled.

"Won't he be mad?"

Amy shrugged. "I doubt it, I can't do no wrong in his eyes these past few hours. He's so convinced that I'm destined to be this powerful warrior."

"What exactly is this initiation thing?" Sonic asked curiously although he knew he would rather not have Amy part of it.

"Basically it's a coming of age thing." Amy explained. "When the Oracle feels like the time is right, a tribe member will go through the initiation ceremony. A huge event that everyone in the tribe attends. The participant is then chosen by a god to fulfil a certain task that they will be bound to for the rest of their life. They are commonly assigned just to serve a temple with the most common temples being the beetle, the butterfly, the cicada, the spider, the ant and the fly."

"Whoa." Sonic gasped as the information sunk in.

"However, there are also more rare assignments and temples such as the moth which only has two members, but the rarest of all is for someone to be chosen by the scorpion."

"Scorpion?" Sonic shrieked as he remembered his nightmares and Amy nodded.

"No one has been chosen by the Scorpion for a thousand years and the last one chosen according to legend became corrupted by the power and tried to mess around with the laws of the dead and met a terrible fate as a result." Amy breathed and Sonic tapped his foot as he tried to remember where that story sounded familiar.

"Why is it so rare to be chosen by the temple of the scorpion?" Sonic asked.

"Because the patron god of the scorpion temple is the most mysterious of all the gods and mostly prefers to be left alone. Although every now and again he will summon one person to guard his temple and the secrets it holds and he's very picky with who he chooses. He won't assign the task to just anyone." Amy explained and Sonic whistled.

"What do you think you will be assigned to?" Sonic asked.

Amy cringed and shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea, apparently something important according to the Oracle but I hope he's wrong. I don't want an important job. It may mean I never get to see you guys again." Amy shrieked as she began to panic.

"Hey I'm sure it won't come to that." Sonic comforted as he took her hand without much thought. "By the way, do you know why the Oracle seems so interested in me?"

"I'm just as confused as you are." Amy answered. "You must be someone of great importance. He never takes much of an interest in anyone, especially an outsider."

Sonic hummed, deep in thought. Why would he be considered important to the Oracle? He had never come across him before in his life, but the Oracle sure seemed to know him.

"Well," Amy said bringing Sonic out of his thoughts, "He said all would be revealed at my initiation ceremony tomorrow…whatever he means by that."

Sonic nodded. "I'm going to go for a run and clear my head." He said as he stroked one of Amy's quills before dashing off in a blue blur.

Amy sighed dreamily as she watched her hero disappear, but immediately froze when she heard a sudden rustle behind her. She whipped her head around to see no one there but narrowed her eyes at the thick oak tree that someone could easily hide behind.

She walked over as quietly as possible and summoned her hammer, ready to attack the spy.

"HA!" She yelled as she jumped around the tree, taking the spy by surprise and pinned him to the floor and gasped when she saw the familiar looking green hedgehog.

"Creon!" She snapped as she pressed the handle of her hammer against his neck, preventing him from moving unless he wanted to be strangled to death. "Why the hell were you spying on me?!"

"I wanted revenge for getting me cursed. If I wasn't cursed, I could so take you on right now." Creon choked out as he tried to push Amy off him to no avail. "I live in humiliation thanks to you."

"Look, I'm really sorry ok, I never intended for you to be humiliated." Amy apologised desperately as Creon continued to try and fight her.

Creon just smirked at her. "It doesn't matter now, I have all the evidence I need to take you down."

Amy froze. "What?"

"You and that blue hedgehog. I saw the way you interacted with him and you're certainly more than just friends." Creon laughed as best he could under the pressure of the hammer.

"What are you talking about?" Amy snapped as she tried to play dumb.

"You are messing with forbidden magic Amy, you know that love is a sin. It's dangerous." Creon scolded. "I'm sure your father and the Oracle will cure my curse once I deliver them this message."

Amy's eyes widened in horror.

"Ah ha! So you'd don't deny it!"

"Ssssh!" Amy begged as tears began building up in her eyes. "I'll do anything! I beg of you!"

"Oh how the tables have turned. The great daughter of Ezra begging for mercy." Creon chuckled. "Well to bad."

Amy could feel herself on the verge of a panic attack as she thought of all the horrors that could be done to her and Sonic if they ever found out. She was playing a dangerous game and she tried to think of a way to silence Creon that didn't involve killing him which was something her father would've done by now. Suddenly, she had it.

"Listen, according to the Oracle, a powerful god wants me, so when I am chosen, I will be able to cure your curse in return for your silence." Amy begged and Creon looked at her thoughtfully.

"It would be easier for me to take my chances with the Oracle." Creon snapped.

"Really?" Amy questioned. "Because if you are cured in secret by me, people will think it will be a miracle. They will think you have been blessed by the gods and that will make you a bigger hero than you ever were before or could be if you blabbed to the Oracle."

Creon looked at her with wide eyes. "We're talking different levels of treason and heresy here." He gasped out in shock.

"Is it a deal?" Amy growled as she continued to apply pressure. "I'm sure even the king of the underworld could find a nice hot spot for a disgraced soul such as yours." She blackmailed as she applied slightly more pressure to his throat.

"Ok ok, it's a deal." Creon choked out and grabbed Amy's free hand to shake it.

She removed her hammer from his neck and stood up to glare at him. "I'll contact you as soon as I can."

Creon glared at her but nodded and quickly ran away. Amy collapsed on the ground in relief, but she knew it wasn't over yet. She just hoped her secret would stay just that…a secret.

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**Feel free to leave your opinions.**


	16. Initiation

**Thanks for all the reviews guys; I'm glad to see that I got some of you thinking. Anyway I have some great news, I've started work on another Sonic story. It's still in its infancy in terms of ideas, but it should be published soon. Anyway here's the chapter a lot of you have been aching for.**

**I own nothing.**

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**XVI: Initiation**

Amy paced nervously around her tent as she waited for the moment her father would call her to seal her fate. The lamps around the tribe were being lit as darkness crept in and she could hear the excited murmurs of passers-by who were making their way to the ceremony.

At least some people are excited, she thought bitterly as she pulled on her new red robes that her father insisted that she wore from now on. They seems like a metaphor for the web she was now entangled in; a life she didn't want.

Now she had an added problem in the mix: Creon knew her feelings for Sonic. What if he didn't keep his word? What if she and Sonic ended up being executed? It would all be her fault. Amy could feel the panic building up in her chest as she thought of all the horrors that could happen if Creon let the slightest thing slip. She knew she was playing a dangerous game, but she'd been in love with Sonic for years and nothing bad had ever happened. She'd heard all the legends of this taboo magic, but once she experienced love for herself she couldn't think of anything that was more natural, pure and amazing. She'd never forget the butterflies she got in her stomach the first moment she set eyes on the blue hedgehog and how she felt like her heart was going to explode in her chest when Sonic rescued her from Metal Sonic, picked her up and carried her away.

What was so dangerous about such a wonderful feeling?

"Amy?"

Amy jumped as she heard Sonic's voice and turned around to see him poking his head around the entrance to the tent.

"Shouldn't you be heading to the ceremony?" Amy huffed as her question made the situation feel more real.

Sonic sighed as his fingers gripped the purple curtains so tightly, Amy thought he was going to rip them down. He finally relaxed his fingers, but his facial expression remained tense.

"You don't have to go through with this you know." Sonic said. "We could still run."

"The guards would just find us." Amy sighed in defeat.

"We could fight them off."

Amy shook her head before Sonic even finished his sentence. "You remember what happened last time. Sonic, we can't keep running and fighting. I have to face up to my responsibility. I have to prove to my father that I'm not a stupid push-over of a daughter."

Sonic glared at her. "So this is a pride thing?"

"It's a life or death thing!" Amy shouted catching Sonic by surprise. "You still don't understand, I leave now and I'm first on the execution list followed by you guys. That's if we're incredibly lucky. They might throw in some torture whether it may be physical or psychological. Hell, they might even do both. I wish I could get out of here, I really do but for once in your life Sonic, you need to do as your told if you want us all to get out alive."

Sonic nodded his head frantically before sighing in frustration.

"I'm sorry I yelled." Amy apologised after she took a deep calming breath.

Sonic made his way over to her and fiercely pulled her into a hug which Amy returned, rejoicing in the feeling of being able to have her arms around him again.

"I just have this horrible sinking feeling." Sonic whispered into her quills.

Amy suddenly went rigid and Sonic pulled back to stare at Amy's blank expression.

"Another vision?" He questioned, but Amy didn't respond as she continued to stare right past him.

Amy felt confused as she found herself in that same cell that she kept seeing herself in. She was lying on the floor, her whole body was aching and she felt hollow and cold. She didn't care. She didn't care about anything or anyone. All that mattered was her duty to the tribe and to the temple. She laughed as she thought about all the ways she could get revenge on Sonic for what he did to her.

"Amy?" Sonic's voice brought her out of the vision and Amy shook her head as she tried to banish all the dark thoughts that were buzzing around in her head.

"It was nothing." Amy insisted, but Sonic didn't look convinced.

He was about to argue before he was interrupted by Ezra walking in with an excited expression on his face.

"Amy, are you ready?" He asked before he caught sight of Sonic. "What are you doing in here boy?"

"Just wishing Amy good luck." Sonic said before leaving.

Ezra glared at Sonic's retreating form before turning to smile down at Amy.

"So my child, are you ready?" Ezra asked and Amy tried to stop herself from bursting into tears.

She nodded stiffly before her father lead her out of the tent and followed the path of torches that lead to the Oracle's temple.

All the tribe was waiting for her, but she was only focused on her friends who were stood to the far left. Knuckles was glaring into the large fire in the centre while Kiko was clinging nervously to Tails who tried to comfort her awkwardly. Sonic was staring at the floor and Amy quickly averted her eyes in case Creon was watching her.

The tribal drums were playing a deep beat as the flames in the centre seemed to dance to it and everyone's eyes were soon locked on the Oracle who was making his way out of the temple.

He raised his hand and everyone went silent and the drums stopped playing. All that Amy could hear was the crackling of the fire and her own heartbeat that was beating fearfully in her chest. She looked up at her father who was smiling proudly at the Oracle who made his way towards them and stopped in front of Amy.

"Today my fellow Zanybe," The Oracle began, "We welcome Amy Rose into her duties to serve and protect the tribe as well as the gods in all their greatness."

He bowed and Amy bowed back.

"If I may." The Oracle held out his hand for Amy to take.

She stared at it, trying to disguise her fear before she slowly reached out and placed her hand in his. Ezra nodded and made his way to the front of the crowd to watch what happened.

The Oracle lead her up to the stone steps of the temple and stopped at the top, giving the audience full view of what was going on.

"Do you Amy Rose, daughter of Ezra of the beetle, pledge yourself to the tribe and swear your undying loyalty on pain of death."

"I pledge myself." Amy said without emotion.

"Then may your great task be chosen by the gods our lords and saviours." The Oracle smiled as he gestured all around him waiting for a sign from one of the gods.

Amy cringed and the audience held their breath as they waited for divine intervention.

Everyone suddenly screamed as the flames of the fire burst upwards in a dazzling display of light and people backed away fearfully. Amy gasped as she tried to understand what was going on. She had never seen anything like it before as the centre of the flames began to glow brightly.

"It can't be…" Amy heard the Oracle whisper.

She watched as the Oracle began slowly making his way down the steps and towards the fire as the audience continued to cower away. He reached into the glowing centre and seemed to grab hold of something. He pulled his hand out of the flames without any sign of injury and the flames died back down. People craned their necks for a better look as the Oracle gazed at whatever was in his hand before turning around to smirk at Amy.

"What is it your holiness?" Ezra demanded impatiently.

The Oracle said nothing as he approached Amy.

"How interesting." He remarked and Amy's eyes widened as she caught sight of the golden bracelet in the Oracle's hands.

"Amy, you are strong, independent, passionate and feisty. These qualities seemed to have caused Scorpion to choose the first guardian of the temple of the Scorpion for three thousand years.

The crowd gasped and Amy stared at the bracelet in horror. Why her? She wanted to faint right there in that moment. Wake up and realise that this had all just been a horrible dream. She was never really a Zanybe tribe member. She would wake up and have normal parents and then she would spend her day chasing Sonic like she used to. None of this.

Amy had no such luck as she realised that she was very much awake.

"Do you Amy, accept the responsibility so generously granted to you by Scorpion, to protect his sacred temple and the magic sealed within? On pain of death if you should fail." The Oracle asked seriously as he held out the bracelet for her to put on.

Amy took a deep breath before responding. No backing out now. "Yes."

The Oracle grabbed hold of her hand and wrapped the bracelet around her wrist. The golden metal and jewels embedded in the golden scorpion felt heavy on her arm. She gasped out in pain as the bracelet became very hot on her wrist and seemed to fuse with her skin, forbidden her from taking it off and binding her to her duty for as long as she lived. The bracelet cooled down and no longer felt heavy as it felt like it wasn't even there…as if it was meant for her.

"Zanybe!" The Oracle shouted out as he spun Amy around. "Scorpion has blessed us with a new guardian of the Scorpion temple in front of you and all our beloved creators and lords our gods."

The crowd's cheers roared through the area and the fire glowed brightly with the excitement of the gods. The air had a magical spark to it as people began dancing around the fire and chanting and singing as the tribal drums began to play wildly.

Sonic sighed as he looked at the defeated look on Amy's face. He couldn't believe that she was putting herself through this. He continued to watch her as her father ran over to her and hugged her tightly which Amy did not return. He seemed so excited with Amy's new status and was quickly showing her off to his friend Nero.

"Sonic are you ok?" Tails suddenly asked, concerned.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Sonic asked in confusion.

He looked down at Tails who was looking at him with wide fearful eyes.

"I was just wondering because you're _glowing!_"

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**Feel free to leave your opinions. **


	17. Chosen One

**Thanks for the reviews everyone. I own nothing.**

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**XVII: Chosen One**

"Glowing?" Sonic snorted before he looked down at himself and gasped.

Sure enough, his body was emitting a bright blue glow and everyone around them had stopped celebrating to stare at him in fear. He looked up at Amy and the Oracle who were both looking at him in confusion before the Oracle smirked.

"It seems my theory was correct." The Oracle said as he folded his arms across his chest and approached him.

Sonic took an automatic step back and looked down at his body which was now beginning to stop glowing.

"So you know why I'm glowing then?" Sonic asked, not liking the way the Oracle was looking at him.

"All the gods and spirits and beings of mystic energy come to witness a tribe member's initiation and even the spirits of the chaos emeralds come." The Oracle explained. "You are glowing with their energy and power and that means you are a chosen one of chaos."

Everyone around him gasped, but Sonic continued to frown in confusion.

"I'm not exactly an expert on all your tribal juju stuff, but what the hell is a chosen one of chaos?" Sonic demanded.

The Oracle smiled down at him. "A chosen one of chaos is chosen from a young age by the spirits of the chaos emeralds. They are chosen to become protectors of this world, serve to create peace and tranquillity and possess amazing abilities and this allows them to fight for what is right."

"And you think that I'm said chosen one." Sonic chuckled.

The Oracle nodded. "You possess abilities and powers that can only be blessed upon by someone powerful. Just now, your spirit could feel the spirits of choas' presence and that is why you were glowing."

"But how the hell did I end up being chosen?" Sonic asked.

The dark blue hedgehog, Nero, pushed his way through the crowds of people and glared at Sonic.

"So it's true then." Nero barked, but the Oracle just smiled at him.

"Yes Nero, this boy is the chosen one of chaos."

"But that's impossible, we haven't offered any children up since…oh my gods, you're him!" Nero gasped.

"Huh?" Sonic stared at the dark blue hedgehog in front of him.

"You're my son." Nero said taking a step towards him, but Sonic backed away while all his friends stared at them in shock, suddenly being able to see the resemblance.

"Whoa, how is that even possible?" Sonic gasped out as he refused to look at Nero.

"Well when a man and a woman – " Knuckles laughed before Sonic interrupted him.

"Yeah, ok Knuckles, I know how that part works." Sonic snapped. "I just don't get it though…how did I end up on my own?"

"Every so often the tribe offers up a child to the chaos spirits in the hopes that one of them will be granted with their powers. We leave them in the middle of the forest and hope for the best, although it's extremely rare that they are gifted with the abilities. You must've wondered off after you were blessed." The Oracle explained.

Sonic glared at Nero. "So you just dumped me in the middle of the forest, knowing there was a good chance I would die!" Sonic shrieked at him.

"I wanted a son I could be proud of and now it looks like my wish actually was granted." Nero said happily as he tried to approach Sonic, but he backed off causing Nero to freeze in place.

"No forget it, I'm nobody's son and nobody owns me." Sonic snapped. "Especially not some power hungry moron like you. Despite the fact that I raised myself, I taught myself what's right and what's wrong. All of you guys seemed to have got lost at that part."

After a sonic boom, people looked up to realise that Sonic had taken off, followed by loud murmurings amongst the crowd about what Sonic had just said.

.

"Sonic!" Amy called out as she wandered through the forest looking for her familiar hero.

She sighed as she once again got no reply. So Sonic was once a part of her tribe before she was even born? And the son of her father's best friend as well. What a small world it really was. She couldn't believe that the Oracle and Nero would just drop that bombshell on Sonic. The others had told her not to go after him and that he just needs time alone, but Amy didn't listen. She couldn't just sit there while Sonic was probably hurting.

She sighed and turned around to see a hedgehog sat in a tree in the distance, gazing up at the stars.

She began running over and was shocked to see that she was running faster than usual. She looked down at her golden scorpion bracelet and smiled. She guessed it had some advantages. Amy leaped gracefully off the ground and landed on the branch next to Sonic making him jump in the process.

"Whoa!" Sonic yelped. "I seriously need to attach a bell to you or something." He tried to joke, but it came out dry and he instantly went back to sulking.

"A bell?" Amy chuckled. "Couldn't you think of something prettier?"

"I've got too much to think about right now other than how to accessorize you." Sonic sighed and Amy looked down at him sadly.

"Yeah, sorry." She mumbled, not quite knowing what to say.

"Did you know?" Sonic asked suddenly.

"Know what?"

"That I was that crazy guy Nero's son and that I was a chosen one of chaos?"

Amy sighed. "No. I knew that Nero had a son once and that he sacrificed him to the chaos spirits, but that's all I ever knew."

Sonic laughed without humour and it sounded wrong coming out of him. ""Who would've thought? You and I, children of psychopaths from the Zanybe tribe, both ran away and somehow managed to find each other. Maybe it was fate."

"I thought you didn't believe in fate?" Amy said.

Sonic frowned. "I think I'm starting to."

"Yeah well only one of my parents is a psychopath." Amy breathed out as she sat herself down on the branch next to him. "My mother wasn't so bad from what very little I can remember. But all of sudden she was murdered and my father was never the same afterwards. I'm beginning to wonder if it was because he was in love with her – even though it's forbidden."

"I can't image your father being loving towards anyone. No offense." Sonic said.

Amy giggled. "None taken, but that's the only explanation that makes sense. My mother gets killed and then it's too much of a coincidence that my father went crazy afterwards and became hell bent on making me powerful."

"Then maybe he'd understand our relationship." Sonic mused hopefully, but Amy just shook her head.

"It's too risky and besides, people here don't believe that love is a mutual feeling so he probably wouldn't understand no matter how hard we tried to explain." Amy said longingly.

"These people are crazy." Sonic growled.

"Yeah so you said earlier which caused quite a stir." Amy said awkwardly. "You need to be careful what you say otherwise you might be executed for treason and speaking out against the laws of the tribe."

"So there's no freedom of speech? Typical." Sonic groaned. "How can I be related to such oppressive people when I stand for freedom?"

"It's just how we've been raised. They're all so ignorant and don't know any different because they've been educated not to question the laws they have been given. That's what has prevented us from making progress and mixing with people who have different beliefs to us. It's extremely prejudice, but they honestly believe that any different way of thinking is wrong and believe their way is the only way in order to peacefully live in the underworld when they die." Amy explained sadly.

"But you're different though." Sonic noted. "You've always accepted people."

Amy looked away from him and up at the moon. "I never used to." She admitted, feeling ashamed. "When I was younger I was as bad as the rest of them. My dad taught me to discriminate against new ideas and that the Zanybe law was final. That was until my father gave me the tarot cards and I saw…"

"Saw what?" Sonic pressed and Amy turned back around to smile at him.

"I saw _you_." Amy answered and Sonic looked at her in confusion. "I saw the world outside the Zanybe tribe that you lived in and I saw your attitude towards life. I saw that I could be tolerant and that different ways of living could be fun and I found all the new ideas and new ways of thinking fascinating. I saw your freedom and happy state of mind and spirit and what a life of adventure had to offer. So in a way, you rescued me, even before we officially met."

Sonic sat there staring at her in shock. He just originally thought she was an obsessed fan girl and now he definitely knew there was more to Amy than met the eye.

"Well what can I say, usually I have no choice but to rescue you seen as you get in the way." Sonic joked, finally having a natural smile on his face again.

Amy elbowed him playfully and they both laughed together. "Well, I'll be sure to return the favour someday."

"Oh please," Sonic snorted, "What situation could I possibly need saving from?"

Amy giggled. "Your arrogance and stubbornness may be your undoing one day Sonic."

Sonic just rolled his eyes before eyeing her bracelet.

"Chosen by the scorpion huh?" He said. "I thought you said no one had been chosen for centuries and was the rarest job."

"Yeah." Amy sighed. "Chosen by the god of death."

"That's depressing." Sonic chuckled.

"He's the god of other things too like independence, nurture and passion."

"That weirdly suits you." Sonic smirked and Amy rolled her eyes.

"Gee thanks." She said before they sat there in comfortable silence.

Amy gasped as she suddenly felt a new vision coming and gripped the branches tightly, digging her fingers into the bark. It was one of her most vivid visions yet.

_Amy groaned as she felt as if the very life was being drained out of her. She was lying on the ground with Tails and Knuckles stood protectively over her. They looked terrified as they watched Sonic beg as tears streamed down his face. _

"_I don't care what happens to me!" Sonic shrieked. "Just save her!"_

_Amy couldn't understand why Sonic was doing this for her. She wanted to scream at him to just let her pay for her actions. Instead he seemed obsessed with taking the blow for her. He had spoken words to her that sparked a few repressed memories. Memories that had been beaten out of her._

_Her heart beat faster in her chest as she stared with wide eyes at the blue hedgehog, the fastest creature alive as he became an emotional mess. _

_He cried out something that she couldn't quite hear, but whatever it was seemed to spark a huge reaction. Everyone around her, even Tails and Knuckles stared at him in shock. Amy craned her neck to look at her father's reaction. He had a murderous look on his face and pulled out something silver and sharp looking from his robes._

_NO!_

Amy cried out as she came back to reality and whipped her head around to check if Sonic was still safe. To her relief, he was and was sat safely next to her with his eyes wide and slightly fearful as he watched her trying hard not to hyperventilate.

"What did you see?" Sonic asked as gently as he could, although there was still a panicked edge to his voice.

"Oh, it was nothing." Amy lied.

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**Yes a few of you guessed correctly. But what will happen next, that is the question. Feel free to let me know your thoughts in a review. **


	18. Persecution

**Thanks for all the reviews guys. I own nothing.**

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**XVIII: Persecution **

Amy sighed as she tried to stop the tears from spilling out of the corner of her eyes. Lately, she felt that all she was doing was crying and she hated it. A few weeks ago, she was just an ordinary girl, hanging out with her friends, occasionally saving the world from Eggman and now she was meant to be the guardian of the scorpion temple. One good thing came out of it though: she didn't have to stay with her crazy father anymore.

"Amy?"

Speak of the devil, she thought bitterly as she turned around to watch her father enter the tent.

"I've been looking for you." Ezra said excitedly, not looking at her face, but at her bracelet. "You ran off last night before giving me a chance to have a proper look. May I?"

Amy didn't know why he even bothered asking as he snatched her hand up and began stroking the golden bracelet and ruby jewels in the scorpion.

"Truly it is of great beauty." Ezra smirked with a sparkle in his eye.

"Do you think mother would be proud?" Amy asked trying to study his reaction.

Ezra looked back up at her and his eyes flashed dangerously for a second before he spoke through clenched teeth. "I'm sure she would be."

Amy smiled and nodded, not sure what his reaction meant.

"Anyway," Ezra said, changing the subject, "We must prepare for you leaving for tomorrow."

"Yes father." Amy replied.

"Oh I am the proudest father around." He said and it seemed like he would giggle like a school girl at any second. "My daughter, the guardian of the scorpion temple. I knew you were destined for greatness."

Amy tried to repress her groan as her father began babbling on about how amazing the whole thing was. It would be amazing if she didn't have to do this and could just go home.

.

"Do these really work?" Kiko asked in fascination as she stared at the dream catcher the shop keeper was holding up in front of her.

"Of course, they keep away bad dreams. Just sleep with this near you and all those nasty night spirits can't invade your mind." The yellow male hedgehog explained.

"How much?" Kiko asked, but the hedgehog just laughed.

"You can have it for free my dear, you look like you could use it." He noted as he pointed out the bags under the small fox's eyes.

Kiko rubbed them self-consciously. "Yeah well I haven't been sleeping well since I witnessed J-Jocasta's death."

The hedgehog nodded. "Ah yes it was a shame. She was a great costumer of mine. Now who will buy all my herbal remedies?"

Kiko glared at him. "That's all you're interested in?" She demanded. "Profit?"

The hedgehog looked at her in confusion. "Well, what else is there?"

"The fact that you knew her?" Kiko shrieked like it was obvious. "You must've cared about her?"

"Cared?" The hedgehog tested the word out in his mouth and Kiko looked at him in shock.

"You know to care about someone?" Kiko tried to explain. "To have a bond with them and worry about their feelings?"

The hedgehog just shook his head. "Never heard of it dear. Why would I worry about her feelings?"

"Everyone cares about at least one person." Kiko continued. "It's a very important part of society's structure. It's what allows us to help each other and all live in harmony together."

The hedgehog's facial expression suddenly twisted as he glared at Kiko. "Caring is not the Zanybe way."

"What?" Kiko shrieked. "You people are sick!"

The yellow hedgehog narrowed his eyes and reached under his desk to press a small red button before he folded his hands on top of the desk and waited for them to arrive.

"You question our Zanybe law?" He demanded harshly.

Kiko smirked and folded her arms across her chest confidently. "As a matter of fact I am. I've studied your people and way of life all my life and I have come to the conclusion that you need to be civilised. You're bad, you're cruel, and you're sick and above all, completely barbaric!"

"Is that so little girl?" The hedgehog asked and Kiko nodded firmly.

Kiko turned to march out of the shop before stopping in her tracks when she saw five hooded figures stood, blocking her only exit.

"Thank you for coming so quickly." The yellow hedgehog thanked the hooded figures.

"No." A sinister voice said that sounded familiar to Kiko from last night. "Thank you." The hooded figure in the lead threw a sack of gold at the shop keeper and he greedily began counting all the gold coins inside.

"What's going on here?" Kiko demanded, suddenly losing all her confidence from before.

"Kiko, you are under arrest for treason and free thinking." The lead guard said and Kiko's eyes widened as the other guards grabbed her arms and began pulling her out of the shop.

"No wait! What did I do?!" She screamed as she tried to break free of their grip. "Let me go!"

"I'm afraid you have to come with us one way or another." The lead guard chuckled as he led them away to the Oracle's temple. People began peering out their tents to see what was going on.

"Kiko?" Kiko heard Tails shout from a few feet away.

She whipped her head around to see Tails and Knuckles running towards her.

"Let her go!" Tails yelled at the guards and punched one that had hold of her.

Kiko yanked her arm free and began helping Tails attack them. Knuckles joined in and began taking on three at once and he easily knocked them both to the ground.

"Enough!" the leader yelled and his cicada bracelet began to glow brightly.

Kiko, Tails and Knuckles gasped as they felt the grass underneath them grab hold of their feet and held them tightly in place. Knuckles tried to fight it off, but just ended up tripping over and two of the guards grabbed hold of his arms and yanked him up.

"This one's tough." One said.

"Didn't the Oracle say to stay away from them though?" The other asked.

"It doesn't matter now." The leader replied. "They're all now arrested for free thinking, treason and just for being outsiders." He laughed loudly. "Away with them." He ordered.

The guards began pulling the two struggling foxes and echidna towards the Oracle's temple.

"What are you going to do with us?" Kiko whimpered as she was dragged along.

"Oh don't worry, we'll make sure you all have a nice long, slow and painful death." The leader laughed before being silenced as Knuckles kicked him, the force knocking his hood down to reveal a dark blue hedgehog.

"You!" Tails shrieked.

"Aren't you Sonic's father?" Knuckles demanded.

Nero smirked at them as they continued to struggle against the guards.

"Yes and right now I have my son's best interests at heart." He said as he pretended to sound emotional. "He'll be much better off when free thinking _friends _such as yourselves are out of the picture." He cackled.

"SONIC!" Tails cried out as they were dragged into the temple before the large oak doors slammed shut behind them.

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**Things are heating up. Feel free to leave your opinions.**


	19. Parental Problems

**Thanks for the reviews. I own nothing.**

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**XIX: Parental Problems**

"SONIC!"

Sonic's eyes snapped opened as he thought he heard someone calling out his name. He looked around and couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, nor did he hear his name again so he shrugged and figured it was nothing.

He yawned and stretched before jumping down from the tree and running back towards the Zanybe tribe. Now that he'd calmed down he figured it would be the perfect time to have a talk with Nero…his…father.

Sonic shuddered at the thought.

He took off towards the tribe, but skidded to a halt when he zoomed past Amy who was sat hunched over something. He stared at her for a second before running back to her and stood next to her, noticing the small tombstone decorated with flowers.

"Is this your mother?" Sonic asked gently and Amy nodded slowly.

"I thought I'd visit her one last time before I get sent away."

"Will you ever be coming back here?" Sonic asked.

Amy started shaking her head before Sonic had even finished. "You think I want to ever come back? I mean look at them all. Heading for the scorpion temple is my best bet."

"Where is it?" Sonic asked as he sat down next to her and began picking at the grass.

Amy shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I'll find it and my instincts are telling me that it isn't far."

"Won't you be on your own though?" Sonic's heart clenched at the thought.

"It's probably better that way." She sighed.

Sonic stopped picking the grass to stare at her in shock.

"Why?"

Amy glared in the direction of the tribe before answering. "Because I've caused everyone too much trouble, you guys could've easily been killed and you could still be killed. Once I leave for the temple, I suggest you guys try and make your escape sooner rather than later. They'll find it harder to track you than me. Unless you want to stay with your family here."

Sonic snorted. "Do you honestly think I could stay here? Let alone stay with Nero. You guys are all the family I need."

Amy smiled at him. "You too."

For a moment, Sonic felt like he was lost in her jade green eyes and he could feel this weird feeling bubbling up in his chest. Was he hungry? It didn't quite feel like he was hungry for food. He felt more hungry for Amy's lips. Sonic halted his thoughts right there. He had to remind himself that he was taking it slow with Amy and he was still waiting for the day that he felt that love explosion that people always talked about. Sure he felt funny when he looked at her, but he had always felt like that when he stared at her. That wasn't love…was it?

"Anyway, I have some more packing to do." Amy said interrupting Sonic's thoughts before she stood up and brushed the grass off her. "I don't want my father to have any of my stuff."

Sonic stood back up and waved to Amy as she ran back towards the tents. Sonic headed towards the Oracle's temple, thinking that would be a good place to start looking for Nero.

His suspicions were correct as he stopped in front of the temple just as Nero exited the building and the large oak doors slammed behind him. The dark blue hedgehog was smirking to himself before he looked up and froze when he saw Sonic there.

"Is there something I can do for you son?" Nero smiled.

Sonic resisted the urge to gag. "Don't call me son." He said coldly.

"Right." Nero said awkwardly.

"But I do need to talk to you about this whole thing."

Nero smiled at him. "Right, shall we?" He asked as he gestured with his arm to his tent which was right outside the temple. Sonic glared at his hand which appeared to be covered in blood.

"Is that blood on your hand?" Sonic demanded.

"Just dealing with some pests, that's all." He said casually before Sonic just shook his head in annoyance before making his way into the tent.

Inside was very cosy looking and not at all what Sonic expected to see given the apparent craziness of Nero. However, he soon understood when a lilac hedgehog made her way into the room and stopped when she saw Sonic and gazed at him with wide eyes as if she had seen a ghost.

"Aella, this is Sonic, our son." Nero said to his wife and Aella smiled at Sonic.

"Welcome back!" She greeted and reached out to shake Sonic's hand. Sonic just glared at it before she pulled her hand back. "Right."

"You left me to die and when I return by pure coincidence, all you can say is welcome back?" Sonic snapped and Aella sighed.

"Well what do you expect us to say?" Nero demanded. "I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of it."

"Big deal?" Sonic shrieked. "The point is you left me to die!"

"It was to bring our family great honour." Nero smiled. "And it seems as though our prayers were answered. By the way, why did you never come back to the tribe?"

Sonic shrugged. "I don't know, but you better start explaining everything to me." He ordered.

"It was your father's idea." Aella smiled. "As soon as I gave birth to you, we knew you were special. Your father wanted great things for you so when the Oracle said the time had come for the chaos spirits to choose a child again, we jumped at the opportunity. You were about a month old when Nero offered you up."

Sonic could hardly believe his ears. They were speaking as if it was a good thing.

"So you're my…my m-m."

"Mother." Aella chuckled. "You can say the word you know, it won't kill you."

She pulled Sonic in for a hug, but Sonic stood stock still and sighed with relief when she finally released him. Most of his childhood he had been on his own. To pass time and live life the fullest he pursued adventure and now he was being hugged by his mother and it felt weird. A mother he never knew he had.

"What have you been doing all these years?" Nero demanded as he wiped the blood off his gloves.

"Just travelling." Sonic answered.

"Travelling?" Nero raised his eyebrow. "All these years, you had the greatest power in the world and you spent your time…travelling?"

"So?" Sonic snorted. "You guys just abandoned me, I wasn't going to sit around in the forest and cry. I've been travelling for as long as I can remember. Drifting from place to place, making friends along the way and fighting an evil scientist."

"So you have been using your powers over the years?" Aella asked.

"Well, I didn't know they were anything special, I just thought I was born with them." Sonic explained. "I mean I can run really fact, I'm pretty strong and I can use chaos control."

Nero shook his head. "You've only just scratched the surface of your powers, but I'm sure in time, your emotions will unlock them."

"Emotions?" Sonic asked in confusion.

"The chaos emeralds are linked to people's positive and negative emotions." Nero explained.

"I know that bit, but what does that have to do with me?"

"Well like the chaos emeralds are, you're influenced by your emotions on what powers you can unlock and use. Imagine how invincible and powerful you will be when you unlock your full potential." Nero said greedily as he smirked at Sonic. "Be careful though because if you get too emotional and unlock them all at once, there could be serious consequences."

"Yeah well, getting emotional isn't really my style. I prefer a more zen approach to things." Sonic said glaring at Nero.

"Will you stay with us?" Aella asked hopefully and Sonic frowned at her.

"Do you really think I could after what you've done?" He snapped.

Nero rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Sonic I don't understand why you're so offended by it. At the end of the day, I'm still your father and you have to respect me."

"I'll respect what's right!" Sonic yelled.

"And what's right is that you'll do as I say!" Nero yelled back and Sonic clenched his fists so tightly, he felt like his gloves were going to rip right off.

"Nero, please enough!" Aella insisted as she stood between the two hedgehogs who looked ready for a full blown fight. "Sonic, it would mean the world to me if you just stayed for a few hours. There's so much I want to ask you and I'm sure that you have some questions too."

Sonic sighed, but relented as he sat down on one of the wooden chairs.

"Ask away then."

.

Ezra sighed as he began working through some more paper work in the Oracle's temple. He wanted to be home in order to get a better look at Amy's new powers and bracelet. He knew that his daughter was destined for greatness and he had been right all along. During her initiation, he felt like he nearly had a heart attack when it was announced that Amy would become the new guardian of the scorpion temple.

He looked up when there was knock on his door.

"Come in." He said and a familiar green hedgehog poked his head around the door.

"What do you want boy?" Ezra snapped and Creon sighed and made his way over to him with a piece of parchment in his hand.

Creon handed it over.

"It's the torture and death warrants for the outsiders sir." Creon explained and Ezra smiled as he read it before picking up his pen and signing it.

"The sooner they're gone the better." Ezra said cheerfully. "I see they have you working the mail now that you are no longer a fierce warrior after my daughter beat you."

Creon's lips twitched, but he reminded silence as Ezra continued to tease him.

"Who would've thought?" Ezra laughed. "The great Creon beaten by a little girl with a hammer."

Creon pressed his lips together in a tight scowl.

"My Amy will be the admiration of the tribe and she will have to admire no one in return." Ezra explained as he stood up from his desk and looked out of the window with a proud expression on his face.

"Too bad she admires that blue hedgehog a little too much." Creon mumbled and Ezra stiffened before turning around to glare at Creon.

"What do you mean, boy?" Ezra snapped.

"Nothing." Creon covered up his mistake quickly.

"No you said something alright." Ezra said as he began slowly approaching Creon. "You said that my daughter has an admiration for someone."

"Did I?" Creon began sweating. "No…pfft, Amy? The great scorpion guardian?" He gulped before Ezra picked him up by his neck and slammed him against the stone walls, causing it to crack slightly.

Ezra glared up at the struggling green hedgehog in his grip. "You are going to tell me everything!"

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***Gasp*. Feel free to leave your opinions.**


	20. Taboo Magic

**Hey guys thanks for the reviews. I can't remember if I told you, but in case you didn't know, GummyGal has done a drawing of Sky from the previous story. So if you want to check out what she looks like, click the link on GummyGal's profile page. **

**Also, news update on my latest Sonic and Amy story I'm working on: it's going to be called Hypernova. It involves the hidden secrets of the chaos emeralds, another devious plan from Eggman with a little help from another evil character and Amy is greatly important to this plan. Don't' worry, they'll also be some Sonamy moments for you hard core shippers out there. It should hopefully be published later this week if all goes well.**

**I own nothing.**

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**XX: Taboo Magic**

Amy hummed gently to herself as she continued to pack her stuff away, making sure she picked up anything of great value so her father couldn't keep it for himself. She kept debating whether to take her tarot cards as she wondered if she really needed them anymore given what her father had done to her. Amy shuddered at the mere memory of it and quickly knocked the cards out of her sight.

She really couldn't wait to get out of this tribe and she actually found herself being grateful towards Scorpion for given her the opportunity to get away. She would never have to see her father again and he no longer had the authority to order her to come back and visit him. She was in charge of herself for once…well apart from the fact she actually didn't have much choice but to head for the temple, but it was progress. She was one step closer to getting her normal life back.

Amy had no idea how long she would have to be the guardian for. It was an enigmatic position as no one had ever completed their duty. The last person to hold the position went mad with power before he, as legend has it, had his eyes scooped out before being sealed in the underworld. Amy definitely didn't want to do anything like that.

Maybe if she did a good enough job, Scorpion would let her have an early retirement or something and then she could go back her friends and hopefully forget this whole thing ever happened. She began feeling excited when she realised she could date Sonic and they could be together without any threats. Clearly, love wasn't as bad as the tribe made it out to be. She hadn't gone crazy yet and it's obvious that it's a mutual feeling. She could tell just by looking at Sonic's eyes that he felt the same way about her. She could always see it and that's why she had continued to chase after him all these years. Despite him insisting otherwise, the look in his eyes gave Amy hope for the future and she seemed to be right as he agreed to date her at Tails' party a few months ago. It seemed he was finally coming round to the idea of being with her.

Amy sighed dreamily at the thought, but was interrupted when she heard her father storming into the tent, followed by six Zanybe guards.

"Father, what's going on?" Amy asked as she eyed the guards nervously.

She then looked up at Ezra who was glaring down at her with a murderous ferocity and Amy's breath caught in her chest.

"You tell me Amy." Ezra snapped out through clenched teeth and Amy continued to look at him in confusion.

"A certain messenger was so kind enough to tell me, that you're messing around with taboo magic." Ezra explained.

"What?" Amy gasped out.

The Zanybe guards quickly turned around and pulled forward a bruised and battered looking green hedgehog. They pushed him onto the floor and Creon looked up at Amy with an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry, Amy." He choked out. "They tortured it out of me."

Amy watched in horror as he passed out on the floor and looked up at Ezra's expression of pure rage.

"I don't understand…" Amy gasped and her father rolled his eyes.

"You disappoint me child." He growled, shaking his head slightly. "I thought I'd raised you better than this. You're in love with that blue hedgehog!"

Amy gulped and she felt as if her heart was about to stop in her chest.

"What do you have to say in your defence?" Ezra snapped and Amy flinched away, knowing that there was no backing out of this. She had been caught red handed and that was it now. She was most likely on her last day of life.

"Love isn't dangerous father!" Amy yelled at him with a sudden burst of courage.

"Oh yeah?" Ezra challenged.

Amy nodded firmly. "I've been in love with him since I was eight years old and in all those years, nothing bad has ever happened!"

Ezra looked ready to explode with anger. "You only think you're in love with him, Amy. I thought you knew that love is a dangerous illusion; dark magic that corrupts our minds. It is not a mutual feeling and it's poisonous!"

"Oh yeah and you would know all about that wouldn't you father?" Amy laughed humourlessly.

"What?!" Ezra snapped.

Amy tried to make her voice sound as understanding as possible. "I know the real reason you act this way is because you were in love with mother. I understand the feeling father and together we can teach the tribe what a beautiful emotion it is."

Ezra looked at her like she was crazy.

"You've truly lost it haven't you?" Ezra shrieked. "My daughter has gone loopy! SIEZE HER!"

"NO WAIT!" Amy begged as she summoned her hammer and held it high in the air in warning. The guards who had started to try and make a grab for her froze and stared at the hammer in fear.

"I can prove to you that my feelings are mutual." Amy insisted. "Let's just go and ask Sonic!"

Amy ran past the guards and jumped out of the tent and began running towards Nero's tent as fast as she could. She knew Sonic probably would've gone to see him. She knew Sonic better than he knew himself and she just knew that's where he would've gone. Her heart was never wrong.

"STOP HER!" She heard her father shout from behind her and she heard the pursuit of the guards.

Amy pushed her legs even harder.

"SONIC!" She yelled as she approached the tent.

She burst through the curtains and Nero stood up in anger, but she ignored him. Sonic looked startled as she leaped in front of him, panting with her eyes wild. The Zanybe guards burst through the curtains after her and halted when they saw her stood in front of Sonic.

"I'll prove it to you." Amy mumbled as Sonic continued to look frightened by her sudden erratic behaviour.

"I love you, Sonic." Amy smiled and everyone in the room gasped.

Sonic's eyes were wide as he couldn't understand what was going on. He thought Amy was all for keeping this relationship a secret? Where was all this coming from?

"Go on," Amy encouraged. "It's ok to show them, I've seen it in your eyes, I know that you love me back."

Sonic felt his whole body go stiff as he wasn't sure how to answer that question.

"Amy, I – I…" He couldn't say it.

Amy felt like she was about to collapse as she watched Sonic stutter in front of everyone. No. You can't go all shy on me now, Amy thought as she pleaded to him with her eyes.

Sonic continued to struggle for words and Amy instantly knew that all hope was lost. She felt her heart shatter into a million pieces as even now, Sonic couldn't admit it to himself, let alone other people.

Amy took advantage of the situation of everyone talking amongst each other, trying to figure out what was going on, and she quickly made a run for it. She didn't know where she would go, but anywhere was better than here.

"AMY!" She heard her father yell from behind her and Amy screamed as she heard the fast approaching guards behind her.

Before she could make it to the forest, two of the guards wrapped their arms around her and tackled her to the ground.

"NO!" Amy cried out as she tried to push them off her, but she no longer had the strength to go on. Sonic had betrayed her. The very thought made her go limp and the guards easily picked her up off the ground and began carrying her to the temple.

"Enough of this Amy," Ezra snapped as he tried to hide her from the crowds of people trying to figure out what was going on.

As they approached the temple, he leaned down to whisper into her ear.

"One way or another, you are going to learn to be an obedient daughter." Ezra hissed.

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**Feel free to leave your opinions.**


	21. Prison Breakout

**Yikes, sorry that I haven't updated as much as usual. I've just had a lot to deal with at the moment and I lost my notes on the story and I started freaking out. I still haven't found them so it's lucky I remembered what I was going to write in this chapter.**

**Thanks for the reviews and I own nothing.**

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**XXI: Prison Breakout**

Sonic stood standing at where Amy had just been with a shocked expression. What the hell was going on? He managed to snap himself out of his trance and quickly ran out after her, but the pink hedgehog was nowhere in sight and he began to panic.

He heard the sound of Nero's footsteps behind him and he quickly turned around to glare at him.

"Where's Amy? What's going on?" Sonic demanded as he pointed at Nero.

Nero sighed. "I honestly have no idea. That girl has always been a bit crazy so it's no surprise to me that she's been arrested."

"Arrested?!" Sonic shrieked and Nero nodded. "What for?"

"No idea." Nero responded. "Although it seems she had been messing with taboo magic."

Sonic thought about her declaration of love to him and he cringed as it sunk in. They'd found out. Somehow they had found out and now Amy was in major trouble. It was all his fault. If he hadn't got so interested in the tribe and just left the matter alone then Amy wouldn't have had to worry about trying harder to keep the secret, she wouldn't have been cursed and she wouldn't have had to worry about helping all of them to escape. He should've listened to her, listened to his future self and now he was paying the price. Everything that he had been trying to prevent from happening was now happening and he felt powerless to stop it.

"Where have they taken her?" Sonic snapped.

"Probably to rot in jail and be executed along with the others."

"The others?"

Nero smiled. "Those old friends of yours. We got a call saying how one of them was being blasphemous and free thinking. The other two attacked when we tried to take her so they have all been arrested and sentenced to death." He explained with cruel smile on his face.

Sonic gasped as he felt his heart sink in his chest. His friends had been arrested? And he hadn't been there to save them? No! He had to save them!

Sonic pushed past his father, but Nero stopped him by gripping onto his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Nero demanded, his smile now replaced by a menacing glare.

"I'm going to save my friends." Sonic growled out. "You got a problem with that?"

Nero's eyes shone brightly with anger. "Yes I have a problem with that! You will come home with me now. You are my son and you will do exactly as I say!"

Sonic knocked his hand off his shoulder roughly and glared back at him. "Nobody tells me what to do big shot. You're no father of mine."

Nero stood there in shock before quickly covering his ears as Sonic disappeared in a blue streak and a sonic boom, heading towards the Oracle's temple.

"Big shot." Nero chuckled in disbelief. "You want to go against your father? Fine. You haven't seen nothing yet."

.

The dark, damp corridors of the prison echoed sinisterly as the dripping of water could be heard and moss and other different kinds of fungus grew out of the stone tiles. The metal bars were rusty and the smell of rotting flesh was being carried through the stale air.

Knuckles once again tried to smash his way out of the prison cell, repeatedly punching the rusty metal bars but to no affect.

"Just give up Knuckles." Tails groaned from the corner of the small cell they were all sharing together as he tried to wipe the blood away from the huge gash in his arm Nero had made when he was arrested. "Those bars were obviously built to withstand magic so I don't think your strength will have much effect."

Knuckles snarled as he punched the bar as hard as he could before sighed and leaving his fist to linger on the metal pathetically.

"So how are we going to get out of here?" Knuckles demanded as he turned to face Tails and Kiko.

Kiko sighed. "It's hopeless; we're toast."

"Our only hope now is Sonic and I doubt he'll realise we're gone until it's too late." Tails whimpered as he pulled his knees up to his chest.

Kiko sniffed as she tried to wipe away the tears that were now threatening to fall.

"It's all my fault." She cried. "If I hadn't spent my life obsessing over dangerous people."

"Hey," Tails comforted as he awkwardly slid over to her and wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders, "You weren't to know this would happen."

"Yeah, but I exasperated the situation by mouthing off in that shop." She sniffed.

"Yeah that might've helped." Knuckles mumbled and Tails silenced him with a hard glare.

"Don't blame yourself." Tails begged. "Right now we've gotta focus on getting out of here alive."

Kiko sniffed and nodded.

"I thought you just said that Sonic was our only hope?" Knuckles grumbled as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Well until then, it won't do much harm to try and figure a way out ourselves. We can't always rely on Sonic." Tails said as he began looking around the cell for ideas.

"GAH!" Everyone gasped as they fell backwards due to the bright blue light and loud booming noise of the cell being blasted open.

Tails opened his eyes and squinted as the bright light began to dull to reveal his best friend stood by the now broken bars which indicated their freedom.

"Sonic!" Everyone shrieked and ran out of the cell.

"How did you do that?" Tails asked in shock.

"My awesome chaos powers." Sonic smirked. "But now we need to get out of this tribe for good." He said before looking around worriedly. "Where's Amy?"

"We thought she was with you." Kiko replied in confusion.

Sonic's eyes widened. "She was arrested and I assumed that she had been locked up with you."

"I haven't seen Amy in ages." Knuckles said.

Sonic felt as though his heart had just skipped a beat. "Then where is she?"

"Where indeed?" Sonic heard someone chuckle from behind him.

Everyone twisted around to see Ezra and Nero walking down the corridor towards them with smug expressions on their faces.

"What have you done with her?!" Sonic yelled.

"Oh don't worry." Ezra laughed. "She's been stashed somewhere safe for now. Somewhere she can be…cured."

"Cured?" Tails repeated in confusion.

"Cured of her sinful ways you stupid free thinkers." Ezra snapped. "You have polluted her mind. She was the perfect Zanybe child until she started mingling with your lot. Now look what's happened to her: questioning our laws, our way of life and getting involved with taboo magic."

"We question your laws because they're stupid and barbaric!" Tails shouted and his friends nodded in agreement. "You have the nerve to call yourselves an advanced race." He spat.

"We are a pure civilisation and we shall not be tainted by your ways of thinking!" Nero yelled back. "Only we were chosen by the gods to possess and yield magic. We are superior in every way."

"You're a bunch of nutcases that need a good beating." Knuckles growled out as he cracked his knuckles.

"Hand Amy over!" Sonic demanded again and Ezra just laughed.

"Why? Does Sonic love her?" Ezra cooed before laughing again. "Amy is in a special place right now and there's no way you're getting hold of her. In fact, you'll never see her again!"

Sonic saw red as he charged towards Ezra and Nero, knocking them both to the ground.

"Do you really think that challenging us is the best way to get what you want son?" Nero teased as he managed to stand back up, ignoring the pain in his ribs.

"You tell me." Sonic said as he punched Nero in the face.

"Executioner!" Ezra called out and Kiko gasped.

Nero just laughed. "No I think this is more fun!" He said before holding out his hands and zapping the four friends with a bright silver light and they vanished into thin air.

"What did you do?" Ezra gasped.

"Oh I just sent them back home." Nero explained as he calmed down and looked up to see Ezra glaring at him.

"What did you do that for?" Ezra shrieked as he registered what his friend had just done.

"What?" Nero asked in confusion. "They'll never be able to find the tribe again and it will constantly torment them that they'll never see Amy again."

"You really are an idiot sometimes." Ezra snarled out as he punched Nero on the nose, breaking it and knocking Nero to the ground.

"I don't get it." Nero gasped as his hand gripped his bloody nose.

"There is the chance they could find us though and they'll tell others about us and then they'll take Amy away." Ezra explained in a panicked state before freezing in place and smiling.

"What?" Nero demanded.

"I may be able to work this to my advantage after all." Ezra smirked.

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**Feel free to leave your opinions. **


	22. Dysfunctional Family

**Thanks for the reviews guys. I own nothing.**

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**XXII: Dysfunctional Family**

Sonic groaned as he felt like one of Eggman's large robots had landed on top of him. He squeezed his eyes shut as the harsh glare of the light burned his eyes and he could hear his friends groaning nearby.

"W-what happened?" Knuckles managed to ask and Sonic finally managed to open his eyes to find all his friends waking up next to the Master Emerald shrine.

All the memories came flooding back and Sonic began to panic once he realised the situation.

"No no no!" Sonic yelled. "We have to get back!"

"Are you nuts?!" Knuckles shrieked storming over to Sonic. "We need to stay away from those freaks."

"Amy's still there! We have to get her." Sonic I insisted and Knuckles sighed.

"Sonic," He said more gently, "We don't even know where the tribe is and Amy insisted that she needed to stay."

"But they could be doing anything to her right now!" Kiko gasped as Sonic cringed. "Sorry." She added when she noticed Sonic's pained expression.

"Kiko is right though," Sonic sighed as he looked out into the trees surrounding the shrine. "Amy's in danger and it's all my fault."

"What did you do?" Tails asked suspiciously.

Sonic refused to meet his friends' eyes. "I just let the guards take her away."

"W-what?" Tails stuttered in confusion. "What happened Sonic; start from the beginning."

Sonic sighed when he realised that he had no choice but to explain everything. He told them of how he continued to research the tribe when Amy had warned him off and that had caused her secret to be exposed and cursed to see horrible visions of her future. He told them of how he was the one who had caused him and his friends to be kidnapped by the tribe and how he and Amy had to keep their relationship a secret as love in the tribe was forbidden.

"And I guess they must have somehow found out." Sonic explained in a defeated voice. "Amy came running to me for help and I just stood there like an idiot while the guards chased her and took her away."

No one said anything for a few seconds and Sonic began to worry. Then out of the nowhere he felt a sharp pain on his cheek as he was suddenly knocked to the stone ground by something smashing into the side of his face.

"You blue idiot!" Knuckles yelled as he raised his fist to punch him again. Sonic quickly rolled out of the way and Knuckles punched the stone tiles instead, causing a huge crack to appear.

"Knuckles please, this isn't helping anyone." Tails begged as he ran over and grabbed hold of Knuckles' arms. Even though he could easily push Tails off him, Knuckles managed to calm himself down but still glared daggers at Sonic.

"It seems as though Amy was trying to prove that love was a mutual feeling." Tails thought out loud and Sonic looked at him in shock.

"You mean…?"

Tails nodded. "She was hoping that you'd admit your feelings for her and show that she wasn't crazy."

"NO!" Sonic sank to his knees at shrieked at his stupidity. "B-but I don't even know if I do love her and even if I did how would that save her?"

"Sonic," Knuckles snapped looking fed up. "You love her."

"We've all seen the way you look at her." Tails added and Sonic didn't say anything as he stared at the deep crack in the stone tiles.

"So what do we do?" Kiko asked. "How do we save Amy?"

Sonic knew that they'd need all the help they could get. They needed some strong reinforcement. Someone else who was good at exploring and finding things. To face off against a tribe as dangerous and as ruthless as them they would need someone who could be just as dangerous and ruthless.

Sonic looked up and turned back to his friends. "Guys, I've got an idea."

.

Amy's eyes gently fluttered open only to reveal complete darkness. She managed to adjust her eyes only to wish that she still couldn't see as she found herself in a very familiar cold stone cell.

The one from her visions.

"No." Amy gasped to herself as she began to struggle with the shackles that kept her attached to the wall. She tried to her best to call upon the power of the bracelet but nothing happened and Amy went limp with defeat.

This was it now. Any moment now she could be executed and she knew she only had herself to blame. She wished now that she had never met her friends; if she had just stayed at home then they would never have the displeasure of meeting her and getting involved in her world. Then also, she'd have no friends to worry about and constantly have to make sure they stayed at arm's length so that they would never find out her secret. She guessed it didn't matter now anyway. Sonic really and truly didn't love her. Was he just going out with her simply to shut her up? After all she was always nagging him; it had been that way for most of their lives. She would chase him and he would run. But when he had kissed her at the party…it had felt so real. Was it all just some silly fantasy in her mind? Was she so desperate to see love in his eyes when he looked at her that her subconscious had given her exactly what she asked for even though there was nothing really there? Her heart shattered all over again at the thought.

Amy froze in fear as her cell door slowly creaked open. The orange light from the torches outside slowly illuminated the room and Amy held her breath as a large shadow loomed in the doorway.

"So you're finally awake then?" Amy heard the familiar cold voice of her father as Amy managed to make out the outline of his red fur.

Amy didn't respond. She couldn't do it anymore. She felt like Sonic had ripped out her very soul; taken everything she had away with him without a care in the world. Because he was Sonic. He didn't have time to care. He didn't have time for a romantic relationship and Amy felt like the biggest fool in the world to think so. Sonic was probably patching things up with his parents right now. He finally had a family. He had his other friends and no annoying fangirl in the picture. After all, that's all she ever was to him: an annoying fangirl. They'd move on. Forget that she existed.

Maybe it was for the best…

"I'm surprised that you don't have anything to say for yourself." Ezra chuckled. "You were always such a feisty girl and now I can't get one word out of you."

Amy continued to stare at the ground. It hurt too much to even think about responding in any way. She'd read about heartbreak in books and magazines, seen it in movies and even experienced it slightly whenever Sonic missed a date. However nothing could prepare her for this. It was so much more painful than she could ever imagine. Never mind her heart breaking, she felt like her heart wasn't even there anymore. Sonic had stolen it, abused it and then just stamped on it like it was nothing. Her true love, her soul mate…it really was all one sided.

"I suppose it's my fault really." Ezra sighed as he closed the door behind him, sealing the room in darkness again. "I never really did educate you properly on taboo magic. I guess I was just afraid of it happening again. Ignorance is bliss they always say."

"What do you mean?" Amy managed to gasp out.

"Ah so we're willing to speak now are we?" She heard her father's voice getting closer and closer until she could feel his breath on her cheek. "Well too bad because in this room, I will be doing all the talking and you're going to sit there quietly and listen."

Amy remained silent and she could almost sense Ezra's cold smirk in the darkness.

"See this is the obedient daughter I always wanted. Why can't you be like this all the time?" He complained before slapping Amy, her head whipping to one side in the process. She could barely feel the sting against her cheek compared to the hollow aching in her chest.

Ezra pulled back and began pacing on the other side of the cell.

"I can't believe that this is really happening." He muttered to himself. "My own daughter having to be tortured in order to get the message to sink in. I have failed as a father."

He was silent for a few seconds and Amy's ears began ringing as no sound around them could be heard. She jumped slightly when she heard her father approaching her again before he leaned against the wall next to her.

"I thought you'd understand." Amy mumbled.

"What?" Ezra snapped in confusion.

"Didn't you have feelings for mother? Isn't that why you went all weird after she died?" Amy breathed out as she flinched at the mention of love.

Much to Amy's surprise, Ezra burst out laughing and continued laughing for the next few minutes.

"Is that the conclusion you came to?" Ezra gasped out between fits of laughter. "You…you thought that I…was in love with your mother?"

Amy frowned in confusion. Then what really happened?

"I guess maybe it is time you knew the truth so you know how dangerous this love emotion is." Ezra said becoming serious again. "I wasn't in love with your mother…your mother was in love with me."

"Huh?"

"Yes, that stupid woman fell in love with me. Of course I didn't realise at first but after you were born the signs became more obvious. The way she'd look at me and how she'd act around me. However she confided in Nero's wife about her feelings and funnily enough she said the exact same things that you said. Nero's wife came straight to me to ask about what was going on and that's when my suspicions were confirmed."

Amy gasped as her father continued to explain. It was all beginning to make sense.

"It was just too easy to lure her into the woods. I remember that we had left you at school and you wouldn't let go of your mother's leg. It was if you knew what was going to happen. Once we were far enough away from the tribe, I told her everything I knew. She begged and pleaded and insisted that we could make it work…that we could persuade the rest of the tribe that love was harmless. I begged to differ and cursed her to burn alive for five hours in flames that could never be extinguished until she breathed her last breath. It was all over and done with and she could never embarrass me again."

"NO!" Amy screamed as she tried to charge towards him, but was halted by the strong metal chains that kept her attached to the wall, preventing her from ripping her father to pieces.

Ezra just laughed.

"You evil evil evil…" Amy couldn't think of an insult powerful enough to describe him.

"From that moment on I swore that I would raise you right." Ezra carried on without paying Amy's pained shrieks any attention. "You would be powerful and make me proud. To be the perfect Zanybe child. However I am a decent and honest man and can admit when I'm wrong. I have failed you Amy. And now…now it's time that I rectified my errors."

He pulled something out from his robes and the silver object glittered in the very small amount of light in the room and Amy's eyes widened in horror.

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**Let me know your opinions. I was wondering if anyone had actually figured out what Ezra had done. No one seemed to mention it in reviews and it got me wondering. **


	23. Reinforcements

**Thanks for the reviews! I own nothing.**

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**XXIII: Reinforcements **

"Faker, isn't this a surprise?" Shadow mumbled as he sat with his feet propped up against the desk, fiddling around with his AK47.

"This isn't a friendly visit." Sonic said before cringing at the words he was about to say. "I…I need…y-your…help?" Sonic almost choked on the words he never thought he'd say to his look alike.

Shadow froze and stared at Sonic with an amused disbelief. "You have come to me for help?" He smirked.

"It's this tribe." Sonic began explaining. "They've kidnapped Amy and we need to find them again and quickly.

Shadow slammed his gun back on the table and folded his arms across his chest. "I have no interest in helping you find the pink hedgehog you lost."

"Shadow, we wouldn't have asked if we didn't have any other choice." Tails chimed in. "This tribe is crazy and they've murdered many people. With your power we might have a hope in beating them."

Shadow's expression didn't change as he thought for a moment. "Would this tribe harm Amy?"

"Yes." Sonic gulped out.

Shadow's frown deepened as he thought about what Amy had said to him on the ARK when he met her. It was her that helped him realise Maria's true dying words that had been manipulated in his mind. She had taught him that there was more good in the world than bad and that he had been created to help the people of the planet. He was in her debt.

"Alright, I'll help you rescue her." Shadow announced and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The clicking of high heels against the hard floor could be heard approaching the door to the small office at GUN's headquarters opened. Rouge walked into the room and looked shocked to see Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and a small fox she had never met in there.

"My my my, come to visit me have you?" Rouge said winking at Knuckles who growled in response and turned away from her.

"We have a new personal assignment." Shadow stated to her. "Mission objective to rescue Amy Rose."

"What's pinkie gone and done now?" Rouge groaned. That girl got into too much trouble for her own good.

"Watch it bat girl!" Knuckles yelled. "Amy's in horrible danger and we need to rescue her."

"Fine don't come then." Shadow said in an interested voice. "Although it would have been handy to have you help us find the treasure there."

"Treasure you say?" Rouge said, her ears pricking up.

"Guess I'll just have to have it all for myself." Knuckles smirked, playing along as Rouge twitched at the thought.

"On second thought," She gasped out, "I'd be more than happy to help out. So who kidnapped her this time?"

"The Zanybe tribe." Sonic explained. "A ruthless and powerful tribe of hedgehogs."

"So where is this tribe?" Rouge asked.

"That's another reason we asked for your help." Tails said. "We need your help in finding them."

"Well how hard could it be?" Rouge said as she leaned against the wall.

"Do you have a map?" Kiko asked Shadow timidly.

The black hedgehog nodded sharply once and pulled a large rolled up map out of a drawer in the desk and rolled it out, holding the edges.

Kiko looked at it thoughtfully and began mouthing things to herself as she looked like she was trying to figure out a complicated equation.

"Kiko?" Tails asked as his eyes darted from the map to her concentrated expression.

Kiko didn't respond as she grabbed a pen off the desk and began marking random crosses on the map.

"What are you doing?" Rouge demanded.

"I'm marking out where the explorers went missing when they went in search of the tribe or at least where communication was lost with them. I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner." Kiko remarked as she chewed on the lid of the pen before marking another X where a mountain was marked.

Sonic stared at the map where all the crosses were. All the crosses did indeed seem to be near each other as they began to form a circle around a blank area of forest land. He began to think the shape of the landscape looked familiar as he remembered flying over a mountain range similar to the one marked on the map when he had gone to defeat the King of the Underworld.

"There should be a river there." Sonic said as he pointed the blank space out on the map. "But it hasn't been marked."

Everyone looked at him with shock and confusion.

"How would you know that?" Tails asked.

"Oh I…" Sonic stuttered as he remembered that no one knew about his little adventure to the future.

"But it makes sense though," Kiko said, saving Sonic from having to explain himself. "The tribe will have to get their water supply from somewhere and it makes sense that the river would run down from these mountain ranges and into the valley below." She said as she drew a large circle around the blank area that the crosses surrounded. "The river hasn't been marked because this area hasn't been explored because people have been killed before they can even get close so they just marked at as a forest area."

"So that's where the tribe will be." Tails gasped out.

"I hope so." Kiko mumbled. "It certainly seems that way."

Sonic sighed as he wished that he'd paid better attention to where he was going a few months ago when he went there to battle the King of the Underworld.

"The only problem is that the Tornado won't be able to fit all of us." Tails said.

"No problem we can just borrow a plane from GUN." Rouge offered. "That treasure is mine."

"Let's go." Shadow ordered as he led them away.

.

The black jet zoomed across the sky and Sonic was getting twitchy being confined in the small space and not being able to run.

"Why couldn't I just run there?" Sonic moaned to Tails for the millionth time.

Tails sighed as he calmly steer the jet. "Because we need to stick together if we're all going to get out of there alive."

Sonic groaned and slouched down in the co-pilot seat, propping his feet up on the armrest and staring out into the white clouds in front of them.

"By the way Sonic," Tails asked sounding unsure, "How did you know about the landscape before and the way you keep reacting to things…I feel like you're keeping something from us."

Sonic felt his heart skip a beat as he tried to figure out a way to explain himself out of this. He really didn't want to talk about the things that he had seen in the future, especially not to Tails.

"It's nothing." Sonic mumbled his reply as he tried to shake off the flashbacks.

"Come on Sonic, I'm your best friend; you can tell me anything." Tails encouraged gently. "You've been acting weird for months and how exactly did you find out about the tribe. Who was it that warned you?"

"I did, ok?" Sonic blurted out before he could stop himself and he slapped a hand over his mouth.

Tails looked at him as if he had gone mad.

"How can you warn yourself?"

"I'm saying no more." Sonic said and Tails groaned.

"Please Sonic just tell me."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I have my reasons." Sonic snapped. "I'm trying to protect you."

"From what?" Tails demanded as he turned away from the vast sky in front of them to frown at his best friend.

"From myself." Sonic mumbled in shame and Tails frown melted into an expression of confusion.

"Sonic you're not making any sense…"

"Something's going to happen to me." Sonic whimpered as he pulled his knees up to his chest.

Tails panicked at the sight. He had never seen Sonic look so…vulnerable. He looked like he'd seen something he wished he could forget.

Sonic's green eyes glazed over as he thought again about what he had seen in the future. Amy's curse and the scars that covered her body. Tails, a widower looking after his only child after Kiko sacrificed herself to save him. And then there was himself. Haunted and cursed, turning into something dark and sinister whenever he couldn't keep control of his emotions. Everything he had seen in the future was now coming true. His future self had told him he had got his curse from the Zanybe tribe after Amy had been cursed. Amy had now just been cursed. Did that mean his turn was up next?

He couldn't let that happen.

"Sonic?" Tails demanded bringing Sonic out of his deep thoughts. "What's going to happen to you?"

Sonic huffed as he straightened his legs out again and tried to play it off as nothing. "It doesn't matter, let's just say I've been well informed and it's imperative that we save Amy."

Tails shot Sonic another worried look but decided to drop the subject.

"We're almost there." Tails said as he began to lower the jet.

.

"Argh, remind me again we had to land so far away!" Rouge moaned as she struggled to walk over the huge roots and twigs in her high heels, glaring up at the low branches that were preventing her from flying properly.

"Because we need the element of surprise." Shadow hissed at her and Rouge stuck her tongue out at him.

"I see the temple!" Knuckles called out and Sonic looked up to see the top of the stone temple in the valley below them.

"We have eyes too Knuckie, we don't need you to commentate." Rouge chuckled and Knuckles shot her a death glare.

Sonic narrowed his eyes at the temple up ahead and quickly took off in the tribe's direction.

"Sonic wait!" Tails yelled. "We need to stay together!"

But Sonic didn't listen as he left his friends behind and kept his eyes locked straight ahead where he knew the barbaric tribe was. The tribe wasn't going to know what hit them. He would get Amy back and he would take her away from that awful place and then apologise for the rest of his life for what he did to her.

Sonic skidded to a halt on the edge of the forest and stared at the large oak doors that led into the Oracle's temple. The door opened and a familiar red hedgehog stepped out and Sonic felt his anger boil up as he watched Ezra casually leave the temple. How could he act so normal when his daughter was in such danger?

He charged towards him and tackled Ezra to the ground.

"AH!" Ezra yelped. "What is the meaning of this? You!" He yelled as his cold eyes locked with Sonic's furious ones.

"Where's Amy?" Sonic demanded as he pressed his hand down on Ezra's throat. "Give her back to me!"

"I must admit it was very brave of you to come back here. You've really disappointed your parents you know." Ezra chuckled.

"I don't care about them!" Sonic snapped tightening his hold. "Surrender Amy and nobody gets hurt."

"I'm afraid it's too late for that." Ezra sighed and Sonic looked at him in confusion and fear.

"W-what do you mean?" Sonic asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"I've sent Amy away to fulfil her duty in the Scorpion temple to the north of here." Ezra explained with a satisfied smirk.

"Then that's where I'll head next and you'll never see your daughter again, not if I can help it!" Sonic snarled as he roughly pushed Ezra to the ground and glared down at him before turning his back and storming off.

"Although I'd be careful if I was you." Ezra laughed. "You may find Amy a changed woman."

Sonic ignored him as he took off into the woods to find his friends.

_Don't worry Amy, _Sonic thought, _I'm on my way._

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**Feel free to leave your opinions. **


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